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Even if exemption to education cess or secondary & higher secondary education cess are not specifically mentioned in notification, they are also eligible for exemption/refund in addition to basic excise duty.
Facts
Refund of Education Cess (EC) and Secondary & Higher Education Cess (SHEC) paid in cash claimed under Notification No. 56/2002-CE dated 14/11/2012 (area based exemption) was denied to the appellant on the ground that said notification exempts only basic excise duty. Appellant’s plea that its issue was squarely covered by Bharat Box Factory Ltd. vs. CCE 2007 (214) ELT 534 which was initially rejected by Commissioner (Appeals) on the ground that revenue has filed SLP in Hon’ble Supreme Court.
Held
The Tribunal held that since revenue could not obtain stay from Hon’ble Supreme Court and status of case is still shown as pending, mere filing of SLP should not result in denial of applying the ratio of a case which is in favour of appellant. In Bharat Box Factory Pvt. Ltd. (supra), the Tribunal had held that when for operationalizing exemption, exempted amount of duty is required to be refunded, there was no question of levying education cess and hence it is also required to be refunded. Following the same, it was held that appellant should be entitled to refund of EC & SHEC paid on clearances of goods under Notification No. 56/2002-CE. Decision of Cyrus Surfactants (P.) Ltd. vs. CCE 2007 taxmann.com 806 (New Delhi – CESTAT) was also relied upon.
