2011 (10) TMI 399 - AT - Central Excise

Refund - Benefit on the basis of unjust enrichment is in dispute - Case referred back to original adjudicating authority to decide the issue.

Summary

Issues Involved:
Refund claim denial, unjust enrichment, remand proceedings, pending show cause notice, fresh order requirement.

Analysis:
The appeal was made against the denial of a refund claim by the appellant, which was the second round of litigation. Initially, the refund claim was sanctioned by the Adjudicating Authority, but the Revenue appealed to the Commissioner (Appeals) who denied the claim citing unjust enrichment. The appellant then appealed to the Tribunal, which remanded the matter back to the Adjudicating Authority to reexamine the issue of unjust enrichment. However, during this process, a show cause notice was issued, and the refund claim was again denied, leading to the current appeal.

The appellant's representative argued that since the Tribunal had directed the Adjudicating Authority to reexamine the issue of unjust enrichment and pass a fresh order, the impugned show cause notice and adjudication were not justified. It was requested that the matter be sent back to the Adjudicating Authority in accordance with the Tribunal's order from August 31, 2010.

Considering the narrow compass of the issue at hand, both the stay application and the appeal were taken up together for disposal after the waiver of predeposit of the impugned demand. The Tribunal found that in the remand proceedings, the adjudicating authority was still tasked with examining whether the bar of unjust enrichment applied to the circumstances of the case. Therefore, issuing a fresh show cause notice was deemed unnecessary. Consequently, the impugned order was set aside, and the matter was remanded back to the adjudicating authority to examine the issue as directed by the Tribunal in its previous order from August 31, 2010. The appeal and stay application were disposed of accordingly.