TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (11) TMI 792
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..... 01/ 2014-15 dated 22.01. 2015 and the demand for an amount of Rs. 4,10,40,683/- along with the applicable interest and the penalty under section 77 and 78 of the finance act,1994 was confirmed against the appearance. An appeal against the said order was filed before this Tribunal which was decided vide final order number 53031/ 2018 -CU dated 13.09. 2018 in favor of the assessee- appellant. The department filed an appeal against the said order before Hon'ble Supreme Court. Vide order dated 19.02.2021, Hon'ble Supreme Court has refused to interfere in the matter and dismissed the civil appeal of the department. Pursuant to the said order, the appellant filed a refund claim of Rs.8 ,81,20,922/-on 10.01.2019 submitting that the said amount was paid under protest. The refund of said amount has been sanctioned vide order in original number 08/ 2021-22 dated 29.09. 2021 however, it is held as follows : "I find that the party is not eligible for the interest on refund amount claimed as party's refund claim is sanctioned well within time after submission of all requisite documents by the party and section 11BB of Central Excise Act, 1944 with respect to interest in the case of instant ....
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....mount of the refund from the date of its deposit till the date of its actual payment. To adjudicate the same foremost we need to look into the relevant provisions which entitle assessee for the interest to be paid on the amount deposited by them which specifically can be called as revenue deposits. 5.2 We observe: (a) Section 11AA deals with the interest on delayed payment of duty. It provides that the person who is liable to pay duty, shall, in addition to the duty, be liable to pay interest at the rate specified in sub-section (2) of the said section, wherein the interest rate has been specified to be not below 10% and not exceeding 36% per annum as the Central Government, by notification in the Official Gazette fix. (b) Section 11BB of Central Excise Act deals with the interest on delayed refunds under Section 11B (2). We observe that Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act states that if any duty orderd to be refunded under sub-section (2) of Section 11B is not refunded within three months from the date of receipt of the application then the applicant shall be entitled to interest after the expiry of three months from the date of receipt of the application at such rate not ....
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....d as 2021-TIOL-306-CESTAT-ALL, wherein following findings have been endorsed: "30. In the present case, the provisions of section 11B of the Excise Act would not be applicable. This is for the reason that the appellant was not claiming refund of duty. The applicant, as noticed above, had claimed refund of the revenue deposit. Such a finding has also been clearly recorded by the Tribunal in the order dated 31.01.2017, which order has attained finality. 31. Section 11D of the Excise Act deals with duties of excise collected from the buyer to be deposited with Central Government. It provides that every person who is liable to pay duty and has collected any amount in excess of the duty assessed from the buyer of such goods in any manner as representing duty of excise, shall forthwith pay the amount so collected to the credit of the Central Government. 32. Section 11DD of the Excise Act deals with interest on the amount collected in excess of the duty. It provides that where an amount has been collected in excess of the duty from the buyer of such goods, the person who is liable to pay such amount shall, in addition to the amount, be liable to pay interest at such rate not below t....
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....made under Section 35F of the Act. As already observed in the present case, the amount in question is neither the amount of duty nor is the amount of pre deposit, the amount in question is merely a deposit with the Revenue which the Revenue had no authority to retain as the appellant was the owner thereof. The following para of the above circular are quoted in this decision. "5. Refund of pre-deposit: 5.1 Where the appeal is decided in favour of the party / assessee, he shall be entitled to refund of the amount deposited along with the interest at the prescribed rate from the date of making the deposit to the date of refund in terms of Section 35FF of the Central Excise Act, 1944 or Section 129EE of the Customs Act, 1962. 5.2 Pre-deposit for filing appeal is not payment of duty. Hence, refund of pre- deposit need not be subjected to the process of refund of duty under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 or Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962. Therefore, in all cases where the appellate authority has decided the matter in favour of the appellant, refund with interest should be paid to the appellant within 15 days of the receipt of the letter of the appellant seeking re....
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....nt i.e. the appellant herein. We draw our support from the decision of Hon'ble High Court of Allahabad in the case of RHL Profiles Ltd. Vs. Commissioner of Customs, Ex. and Service Tax, Kanpur reported as 2017 (352) ELT 349 (All) has held that once the confiscation has been set aside, confiscation of seized currency has been set aside and the fact is that the Department has earned interest during the period the currency was retained by it, it was held that payment of interest could not be denied merely for the reason that there is no express statutory provision. Bombay High Court also in the case of Union of India Vs. M P Desal reported as 2019 (366) ELT 251 (Bom) has held that amount seized in cash by the authorities is to be refunded along with the interest. Though in this case the rate of interest was held to be simple at the rate of 8%. However, there already has been decisions of Kerala High Court in the case of Sony Pictures Networks India Pvt. Ltd. Vs. UOI reported as 2017 (353) ELT 179 (Ker) wherein the decision of Hon'ble Apex Court in the case of Kuil Fireworks Inds. Vs. Collector reported as 1997 (95) ELT 3 (SC) is relied and it was held that rate of interest whi....
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....own and exclusively because of the admittedly unlawful actions of the Income Tax Department for periods ranging up to 17 years without any compensation whatsoever from the Department. Such actions and consequences, in our opinion, seriously affected the administration of justice and the rule of law. COMPENSATION: 46. The word 'Compensation' has been defined in P. RamanathaAiyar's Advanced Law Lexicon 3rd Edition 2005 page 918 as follows: "An act which a Court orders to be done, or money which a Court orders to be paid, by a person whose acts or omissions have caused loss or injury to another in order that thereby the person damnified may receive equal value for his loss, or be made whole in respect of his injury; the consideration or price of a privilege purchased; some thing given or obtained as an equivalent; the rendering of an equivalent in value or amount; an equivalent given for property taken or for an injury done to another; the giving back an equivalent in either money which is but the measure of value, or in actual value otherwise conferred; a recompense in value; a recompense given for a thing received recompense for the whole injury suffered; remuneration ....