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Judgment
Debangsu Basak, J.—The petitioner claims interest on the amount refunded by the Central Excise Authorities in terms of Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
Learned senior advocate for the petitioner submits that, the petitioner was entitled to certain rebate. It had applied for the same. In some cases the Authorities had allowed rebate. In some the Authorities had rejected the claim. Subsequently rebate claim was allowed with the order being silent on the matter of interest payment on the delayed payment of rebate claim. The claim on account of interest reached right up to the revisional authority who by the impugned order dated July 9, 2009 has rejected the same.
Learned senior advocate appearing on behalf of the petitioner relies on (2011) 10 SCC 292 : 2011 (273) E.L.T. 3 (S.C.) : 2012 (27) S.T.R. 193 (S.C.) (Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. v. Union of India & Ors.) and submits that the entitlement to receive interest on delayed payment of rebate commences from the date of receipt of the application for refund under Section 11B(1) of the 1944 Act and not on the expiry of the period of three months from the date on which the refund is made.
Learned advocate appearing for the respondent submits that, the application for refund was mired with technical deficiencies and therefore, the petitioner is not entitled to claim interest for such period. He refers to the observation made in this regard in the impugned revisional order.
I have considered the rival contentions of the parties and materials made available on record.
Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. (supra) has considered the question of whether the liability of the Revenue to pay interest under Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act, 1944 commences from the date of expiry of three months from the date of receipt of the application for refund or on the expiry of the said period from the date on which the order of refund is made. In Paragraph 19 it has been held as follows :
"19. In view of the above analysis, our answer to the question formulated in Para 1 supra is that the liability of the Revenue to pay interest under Section 11BB of the Act commences from the date of expiry of three months from the date of receipt of application for refund under Section 11B(1) of the Act and not on the expiry of the said period from the date on which the order of refund is made."
The contention that the original application for refund was not in accordance with the procedure has been substantiated. It is an admitted fact that the petitioner did apply for refund. The procedure for making demand and alleged infraction as contended on behalf of the respondent has not been substantiated.
In such circumstances, W.P. No. 558 of 2010 is disposed of by directing the revenue to pay interest in accordance with Section 11BB of the Act of 1944 to the petitioner calculating such interest on and from expiry of three months from the date of making of the application for refund. In view of the above, the impugned order is set aside. No order as to costs.