Taxpayer Not Entitled to Refund of Excess Excise Duty in Absence of Provisional Assessment: CESTAT [Read Order]

The Chandigarh Bench of the Customs, Excise, and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) held that an assessee who has not opted for provisional assessment is not entitled to claim a refund of excess excise duty paid.

Super Auto (I) Ltd., the appellant, is a manufacturer of excisable goods located in Faridabad, Haryana. The appellant paid central excise duty on its clearances and later sought a refund of the excess duty paid, claiming that it had paid more duty than was actually payable.

The department rejected the refund claim on the ground that the assessment was not provisional under Rule 7 of the Central Excise Rules, 2002, and that refund under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 could not be granted unless the assessment was provisional.

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The Commissioner (Appeals) upheld the decision. Aggrieved by the order, the appellant approached the CESTAT. The appellant’s counsel argued that there were divergent views of different benches of the Tribunal and High Courts on whether refund of excess duty could be claimed when assessments were not provisional.

They argued that because of these differing views, a Single Member Bench had referred the issue to a Larger Bench of the Tribunal. They further argued that the Larger Bench had since delivered its decision on September 12, 2025, and requested that the appeal be decided in line with that ruling.

The revenue counsel argued that the appellant’s refund claim was not maintainable because the assessment was final, not provisional. The counsel referred to the judgment of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in Mauria Udyog Ltd. v. CCE, 2007 (207) ELT 31 (P&H), which was affirmed by the Supreme Court, and explained that a refund under Section 11B cannot be granted unless the assessment is provisional.

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The single-member bench comprising S. S. Garg (Judicial Member) observed that the Larger Bench of the Tribunal, through Interim Order No. 13/2025 dated September 12, 2025, had already settled the issue.

The Larger Bench, relying on the Mauria Udyog Ltd. judgment, held that an assessee who has not opted for provisional assessment is not entitled to claim a refund of excess duty paid under Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944.

The tribunal explained that since the Larger Bench had answered the issue against the appellant, the same principle applied in this case. The tribunal dismissed the appeal.

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