https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=801221 Amounts paid during an investigation before any assessment or adjudicated excise liability arises are deposits, not excise duty, even if credited under a duty accounting head. Where accepted towards an appeal and not released beyond the mandatory amount, those payments must be treated as pre-deposit under Section 35F. Interest on their refund is statutory rather than equitable and cannot be awarded at a non-statutory rate. Section 11BB, concerning delayed refunds of duty following an application, does not govern such deposits. Section 35FF instead requires interest at the applicable statutory rate from the date of deposit until refund. en-us Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0530 Sat, 17 Oct 2026 05:20:38 +0530 TaxTMI RSS Generator https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=801221 Amounts paid during an investigation before any assessment or adjudicated excise liability arises are deposits, not excise duty, even if credited under a duty accounting head. Where accepted towards an appeal and not released beyond the mandatory amount, those payments must be treated as pre-deposit under Section 35F. Interest on their refund is statutory rather than equitable and cannot be awarded at a non-statutory rate. Section 11BB, concerning delayed refunds of duty following an application, does not govern such deposits. Section 35FF instead requires interest at the applicable statutory rate from the date of deposit until refund. Case-Laws Central Excise Thu, 15 Oct 2026 00:00:00 +0530 https://www.taxtmi.com/caselaws?id=801221