The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chennai bench has held that the Customs department shall process the refund claims in a proper manner as the interest on delayed refund amount are paid out of public money.
The appellants, Ingram Micro India Ltd., applied for a refund of duty paid. After two years, on 21.06.2012 the original authority has rejected the refund claim stating that the appellant did not produce the Chartered Accountant certificate to prove that burden of 4% Additional Duty has not been passed on to the buyer.
The appellants challenged the order before the Tribunal.
Judicial Member Ms. SulekhaBeevi observed that the refund claim is rejected on the ground that the appellant has not produced the Chartered Accountant certificate to establish that the burden of 4% Additional Duty has not been passed on to another.
“On perusal of the order passed by both the authorities, I find that they have not cared to peruse the documents submitted by the appellant. The refund claim has been rejected in a cryptic manner. It is to be borne by the authorities below that interest on such delayed refund is paid out of public money and therefore the refund claims have to be processed in proper manner after perusing the documents produced by the claimants. In the present case, though the refund claim is received on 16.06.2009, the adjudicating authority has passed the order only on 21.06.2012.”
Noting that the adjudicating authority ought to have conducted one more personal hearing so as to make sure whether the appellants have furnished necessary documents before rejecting the appeal on such technical grounds, the Tribunal held that“Besides the liability to pay interest, both sides incur litigation expenses also, of which theexpense of the department is borne from the public exchequer. These type of unnecessary litigations have to be avoided.”
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