In a recent development, the Department’s appeal challenging the refund claim of Special Additional Duty (SAD) filed by a respondent has been dismissed by the Tribunal. The case revolves around a refund claim made under Notification No. 102/2007 dated 14.09.2007.
The original authority, after due process of law, had previously sanctioned the refund-claim, stating that all the documents provided by the respondent were in order. However, the Department filed an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals), alleging that the Chartered Accountant Certificate submitted by the respondent was vague and did not establish whether the refund-claim was affected by unjust enrichment.
The Commissioner (Appeals), in the order being contested, found the Chartered Accountant Certificate to be satisfactory and criticized the Department for not presenting proper grounds to support their allegation regarding the certificate. Consequently, the appeal filed by the Department was dismissed.
Expressing dissatisfaction with this verdict, the Department approached the Tribunal seeking redress.
It is noteworthy that no representative from the respondent’s side appeared despite notice being issued.
After hearing the Department’s Authorized Representative and reviewing the records, the Tribunal has concluded that the main ground raised in the appeal, which claimed the vagueness of the Chartered Accountant Certificate, lacks merit. The relevant paragraph of the certificate, which stated that the burden of 4% CVD/SAD had not been passed on by the importer to the buyers and had not been included in the selling price, was found to fulfill the requirement of unjust enrichment.
Furthermore, the Tribunal confirmed that the original authority had examined the records diligently and correctly sanctioned the refund. As a result, the appeal filed by the Department has been dismissed.
Case title: Commissioner of Customs v/s M/s. Poly Pipes
Citation: Customs Appeal No. 42205 of 2013
