Page 183 - ELT_15th May 2020_VOL 372_Part 4th

2020 ] NEW KAMAL v. UNION OF INDIA 573

any fault of the common man doing business in following procedure and law as
required.
5.1 He urged that the refund has been issued after more than a decade
and interest which is contemplated under the provision of the Customs Act
could not have been denied. He urged that by different orders, refund applica-
tions have been allowed by the Customs authorities.
6. Learned Standing Counsel Mr. P.Y. Divyeshwar, upon instruction
does not dispute the entitlement of interest of refund claim. He however, submit-
ted that there are many refund claims pending to process.
7. Even otherwise, it would be profitable to reproduce Section 27A of
the Customs Act, 1962 at this stage which reads thus :-
27A. Interest on delayed refunds. - If any duty ordered to be refunded
under sub-section (2) of Section 27 to an applicant is not refunded within
three months from the date of receipt of application under sub-section (1) of
that section, there shall be paid to that applicant interest at such rate, [not
below five per cent.] and not exceeding thirty per cent., per annum as is for
the time being fixed [by the Central Government, by notification in the Of-
ficial Gazette], on such duty from the date immediately after the expiry of
three months from the date of receipt of such application till the date of re-
fund of such duty :
Provided that where any duty, ordered to be refunded under sub-
section (2) of Section 27 in respect of an application under sub-section (1) of
that section made before the date on which the Finance Bill, 1995 receives
the assent of the President*, is not refunded within three months from such
date, there shall be paid to the applicant interest under this section from the
date immediately after three months from such date, till the date of refund
of such duty.
Explanation. — Where any order of refund is made by the Commis-
sioner (Appeals), Appellate Tribunal [National Tax Tribunal] or any court
against an order of the [Assistant Commissioner of Customs or Deputy
Commissioner of Customs] under sub-section (2) of Section 27, the order
passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Appellate Tribunal [National Tax
Tribunal] or, as the case may be, by the court shall be deemed to be an or-
der passed under that sub-section for the purposes of this section].
8. From the said provision, it is made clear that if any duty is ordered
to be refunded under sub-section (2) of Section 27 to an applicant and it is not
refunded within three months from the date of receipt of application under sub-
section (l), interest is required to be paid to the applicant as may be notified by
the Central Government in the Official Gazette. It has been consistently 6%
which has been notified by the Central Government. We also notice that after
receiving that refund amount which is aggregating a sum of Rs. 6,31,811/- and
Rs. 18,62,355/- respectively the petitioners had communicated to the respondent
authorities and made request for 6% of interest which, upon calculation, comes
to Rs. 3,40,321. This has been calculation up to 19-3-2019 and 5-4-2019. For this
respective cheque Nos. 543136, 543150, dated 19-3-2019 and 5-4-2019 have been
issued for the amount of Rs. 4,38,695/- and 1,93,116/- in case of petitioner in
Special Civil Application No. 13167 of 2019 whereas cheque Nos. 543156, 543156,
543156, and 543155 dated 11-4-2019 for the amount of Rs. 4,92,476, Rs. 4,93,951,
Rs. 4,91,040/- and Rs. 3,84,888/- have been issued in case of petitioner in Special
EXCISE LAW TIMES  15th May 2020  183