2026-VIL-972-GAU-CE
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CENTRAL EXCISE High Court Cases

Central Excise - Refund of Education Cess and Secondary and Higher Education Cess - Scope of Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 - Applicability to amounts paid without authority of law - Appellant rejected refund claims for EC and SHEC that respondents had mistakenly paid for the period October 2013 to June 2017 on crude oil produced under NELP blocks arguing that the refund claims were barred by the limitation period prescribed in Section 11B of the Act, which prescribes a one year period for claiming refund from the relevant date - Whether the time limit prescribed in Section 11B of the Central Excise Act, 1944 applies to refund claims for EC and SHEC when the same were paid by mistake and do not constitute duties of excise - HELD - Section 11B of the Act prescribes limitation for refund of duty of excise and interest and does not refer to other amounts collected without authority of law - EC and SHEC are not duties of excise as they are levied on the aggregate of excise duties and are not calculated as excise duty proper - The amount paid as EC and SHEC on Oil Industry Development Cess does not take the character of duty of excise but is simply an amount paid under a mistake of law - The provisions of Section 11B of the Act would therefore not be applicable to an application seeking refund of EC and SHEC paid under mistake - Since EC and SHEC are not duties of excise, the limitation prescribed under Section 11B of the Act would not apply and the general provisions under the Limitation Act, 1963 would be applicable - Section 17 of the Limitation Act inter alia provides that when a suit or application is for relief from consequences of a mistake, the period of limitation would not begin to run until the plaintiff or applicant has discovered the mistake or could with reasonable diligence have discovered it - The retention of EC and SHEC which have been paid on a mistaken notion by the respondents without any authority of law is not permitted under Article 265 of the Constitution which provides that no tax shall be levied or collected except by authority of law - A mistake does not confer any right on any party and can be corrected - Section 11B of the CEA, 1944 cannot be a bar to refund the EC and SHEC that has been paid mistakenly by the respondents to the appellant - The Revenue appeals are dismissed
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