https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=798626 Statutory interest on delayed excise-duty refunds arises automatically once three months elapse after receipt of a valid refund application. Duty paid under protest, together with contemporaneous electronic refund claims accepted without objection, is treated as protected protest payment rather than voluntary payment. Electronic claims constitute the relevant applications for computing interest, while a later physical Form R filing is only an administrative reiteration. The relevant-date rule governing refund-claim limitation does not defer interest, and limitation, delay or laches does not defeat a request invoking the statutory interest obligation. Interest runs until refund sanction, subject to verification of claim-receipt dates and calculation. en-us Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0530 Thu, 10 Sep 2026 08:51:25 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=798626 Statutory interest on delayed excise-duty refunds arises automatically once three months elapse after receipt of a valid refund application. Duty paid under protest, together with contemporaneous electronic refund claims accepted without objection, is treated as protected protest payment rather than voluntary payment. Electronic claims constitute the relevant applications for computing interest, while a later physical Form R filing is only an administrative reiteration. The relevant-date rule governing refund-claim limitation does not defer interest, and limitation, delay or laches does not defeat a request invoking the statutory interest obligation. Interest runs until refund sanction, subject to verification of claim-receipt dates and calculation. Case-Laws Central Excise Tue, 08 Sep 2026 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=798626