Exemption claim may be raised later; refund cannot be denied merely for not claiming exemption before clearance.

Goods covered by an exemption notification for stores used on board Navy ships were held eligible for the benefit notwithstanding the absence of a prior exemption declaration before clearance. The rejection rested only on the fact that the claim had not been made in the classification list earlier, but that omission was not treated as decisive. An exemption claim may be raised at a later stage, and refund under Section 11B cannot be denied solely on the ground that the exemption was not claimed before clearance. The refund claim was therefore allowed on that issue.

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Issues: Whether the refund claim was liable to be rejected merely because the assessee had not claimed exemption before clearance of the goods, and whether refund under Section 11B could be denied on that ground.

Analysis: The goods were covered by the exemption notification for stores used on board Navy ships, and the authorities accepted that the benefit of the notification was otherwise available. Rejection was based only on the absence of a prior declaration in the classification list. The Tribunal held that an exemption claim is not confined to being made before clearance and may be raised at a later stage; denial of refund on this ground was therefore erroneous.

Conclusion: The refund claim could not be rejected solely for want of a prior exemption claim, and the assessee succeeded on that issue.

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