https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=46301 A dispute arose whether an amount deposited as a pre-deposit under s.35F of the Central Excise Act was governed by the refund regime under s.11B as "duty," and whether interest was payable for its retention after the appellate order. The HC held that a s.35F deposit is only an adjustable security: if the appeal fails it can be appropriated towards duty/penalty, and if the appeal succeeds (fully or partly) it must be returned; it does not automatically assume the character of duty attracting s.11B limitations. Since the department had pursued a clearly time-barred demand and retained the deposit even after remand, the assessee was awarded interest at 15% p.a. on the sum for 24-01-1997 to 15-09-2000. en-us Mon, 22 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0530 Tue, 06 Jan 2026 13:48:00 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=46301 A dispute arose whether an amount deposited as a pre-deposit under s.35F of the Central Excise Act was governed by the refund regime under s.11B as "duty," and whether interest was payable for its retention after the appellate order. The HC held that a s.35F deposit is only an adjustable security: if the appeal fails it can be appropriated towards duty/penalty, and if the appeal succeeds (fully or partly) it must be returned; it does not automatically assume the character of duty attracting s.11B limitations. Since the department had pursued a clearly time-barred demand and retained the deposit even after remand, the assessee was awarded interest at 15% p.a. on the sum for 24-01-1997 to 15-09-2000. Case-Laws Central Excise Mon, 22 Jan 2001 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=46301