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Judgment
By this petition, the petitioner has essentially prayed for quashing of order dated 1.7.2013 passed by Respondent No.2, whereby its claim for
interest on account of delayed refund of excise duty has been rejected.
Petitioner is a registered company and is engaged in the manufacture of Pan-Masala (Non-Tobacco). Its claim for refund of excise duty
amounting to Rs.4,71,45,503/- was sanctioned vide order dated 18.6.2013 by Respondent No.2. However, the petitioner''s claim for payment of
interest amount on the delayed refund of excise duty has been rejected by him vide impugned order dated 1.7.2013 on the ground that refund does
not fall within the purview of Section 11B of the Central Excise Act. Aggrieved, the petitioner has filed the present petition.
Admittedly, the question of payment of interest on the delayed refund of excise duty has already been settled by a Division Bench of this Court
in Amalgamated Plantations (P) Ltd. vs. Union of India, 2013 (2) GLT 413. The Division Bench has held that Section 11B of the Central Excise
Act does not exclude claim of refund made in terms of the Notification dated 8.7.1999 and therefore the assessee is entitled to interest under
Section 11BB of the Central Excise Act on the excise duty refunded to them. This being the situation, we direct the Excise Officer to determine the
interest amount payable to the petitioner for the relevant period within 3 months from today. In the result, we also quash the impugned order dated
1.7.2013 of the Assistant Commissioner, Central Excise.
The petition is allowed with cost of Rs.1000/- payable to the petitioner.