Excise refund from post clearance finalisation of assessment

The CESTAT has held that refund of excess excise duty arising from post-clearance finalisation of production cost cannot be denied merely on the grounds of unjust enrichment or absence of batch numbers on invoices. 

However, in the absence of provisional assessment under Rule 7 of the Central Excise Rules, refund claims remain governed by Section 11B and are subject to the statutory limitation period of one year. The matter was remanded for limited verification of admissible refund.