In Brief
The Supreme Court held that refund claims under Section 27 of the Customs Act, 1962 cannot be entertained without prior modification of the assessment or self-assessment order through appropriate proceedings under Section 128 (appeals) or other relevant provisions. Although the Finance Act 2011 deleted the phrase 'in pursuance of an order of assessment' from Section 27 and introduced self-assessment procedures, this does not enlarge refund rights. Self-assessment constitutes an order of assessment under the amended definition in Section 2(2). Refund proceedings are execution in nature, not appellate; the refund officer cannot reassess or sit in appeal over the original assessment. The appeals filed by both ITC Limited and the Union of India were dismissed, upholding the Tribunal's view that assessments must be challenged through appeal before refund claims are considered.
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