TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (2) TMI 692
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....ommissionerate, Mumbai. 2.3 In respect of imports undertaken through Courier Bill of Entry No. CBEXIV_BOM_2017-2018_ 1903_10710 dated 19.03.2018, the goods were cleared through FEDEX Express as authorised courier, and the said B/E was filed by the customs broker M/s Pacific Customs Broker Services Pvt. Ltd. The appellants while processing the subject B/E had to pay the customs duty twice as there was technical error in customs software system, once vide challan No. 123111 2103201812269 dated 21.03.2018 and again on the same day vide challan No.1231112103201812272 dated 21.03.2018. Therefore, the appellants had filed refund claim before the jurisdictional customs authorities on 12.06.2018, and after rectifying deficiencies pointed out, were submitted with all requisite details on 20.08.2019. The said refund claim was scrutinised by the proper officer for verification of facts regarding double payment of duty with all concerned sections of the Customs Commissionerate and with State Bank of India, International Air Cargo Complex, Sahar Branch for confirming the receipt of duty twice, chartered accountant's certificate for verification of unjust enrichment, and thereafter sanctioned r....
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....for determination before the Tribunal is whether the amount of Rs. 10,25,253/- paid by the appellants through their customs broker towards import duty liability for the imports under a specific Bill of Entry, twice vide Challan No.123111 2103201812269 dated 21.03.2018 and again on the same day vide challan No.123111 2103201812272 dated 21.03.2018, is eligible for refund or not? 7. Section 12 of the Customs Act, 1962 governs matters of levy of customs duty and Section 27 ibid relates to refund of duty. In order to appreciate the issues under dispute, the specific legal provisions of such Sectionsare extracted given below for ease of reference: LEVY OF, AND EXEMPTION FROM, CUSTOMS DUTIES Dutiable goods. "Section 12. (1) Except as otherwise provided in this Act, or any other law for the time being in force, duties of customs shall be levied at such rates as may be specified under the Customs Tariff Act, 1975 (51 of 1975) or any other law for the time being in force, on goods imported into, or exported from, India. (2) The provisions of sub-section (1) shall apply in respect of all goods belonging to Government as they apply in respect of goods not belonging to Government. ....
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....lients. So with this refund, the importer will not be unjustly enriched. Accordingly, importer appears to qualify the doctrine of no unjust enrichment. 13.0 I find that importer has claimed Double Duty Amount against Bill of Entry / Challans as per following details : - Sr. No. B/E No. B/E Date TR 6 Challan No. / Date Amount paid as duty (Rs.) Refund amount claimed 1 CBEXIV_ BOM_2017_2018_ 1903_10710 1231112103201812269 dt. 21.03.2018 19.03.2018 1025253/- 1025253/- 2 CBEXIV_ BOM_2017_2018_ 1903_10710 1231112103201812272 dt. 212.03.2018 19.03.2018 1025253/- 14.0 In view of the above findings, I pass the following orders: - ORDER 14.1 I sanction refund of Rs. 10,25,253/- (Rs. Ten Lakhs Twenty Rive Thousand Two Hundred Fifty Three only) to M/s Varian Medical Systems International (India) Pvt. Ltd., having office at DHL Logistics Pvt. Ltd. K Square The Integrated Park, NH3 Mumbai Nashik Highway, Bhiwandi, Maharashtra, India for double payment of duty against the same Bill of Entry No. CBEX-IV_BOM_2017_2018_1903_10710 dated 19.03.2018 as detailed in Para 13 above." 8.2 I find from the above, that all the relevant issues relating to grant of refund has been e....
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.... assessee is eligible for refund of the amount paid for the second time. The relevant paragraphs of the said judgement delivered on 29.08.2012 is extracted and given below: "14. If, for any reason, the petitioners were seeking refund of a duty paid, such claim had to be examined under Section 11B of the Act and in such a case, the period of limitation would apply in all its rigour. Neither the departmental authority nor this court in a writ jurisdiction ignore such statutory period of limitation. This position is abundantly clear flowing from the decision in the case of Mafatlal Industries (supra) wherein in the concluding portion of the majority judgment it was held and observed as under :- 108. The discussion in the judgment yields the following propositions. We may forewarn that these propositions are set out merely for the sake of convenient reference and are not supposed to be exhaustive. In case of any doubt or ambiguity in these propositions, reference must be had to the discussion and propositions in the body of the judgment. (i) Where a refund of tax/duty is claimed on the ground that it has been collected from the petitioner/plaintiff - whether before the commence....
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....e and this court in exercise of discretionary writ jurisdiction, may also not compel the Government to do so. 16. In the present case, however, no such inordinate delay is pointed out. The petitioners have contended that the error was noticed by them some time in October, 2003 whereupon immediately on 1-11-2003, such refund claim was filed. 17. In a recent judgment in case of C.C. Patel & Associates Pvt. Ltd. (supra), this court had occasion to deal with somewhat similar situation where the petitioner had deposited service tax twice which was not being refunded by the Department. In that context, it was observed as under :- (12) We fail to see how the department can withhold such refund. We say so for several reasons. Firstly, we notice that under sub-section(3) of section 68, the time available to a service provider such as the petitioner for depositing with the Government service tax though not collected from the service recipient was 75 days from the end of the month when such service was provided. This is in contrast to the duty to be deposited by a service provider upon actual collection by the 15th of the month following the end of the month when such duty is collect....