Order Date: 10 June 2022

Facts:

• The Appellant, M/s Ugam Solutions SEZ Pvt. Ltd., is located in Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and provide business support services in the nature of market research operations and online marketing and content services to clients located outside India. 
•  The Appellant filed refund claims under Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004 for refund of the unutilized Cenvat credit on input services. They filed refund claims for the period April 2010 to June 2010, July 2010 to September 2010, October to December, 2010 and January 2011 to March 2011. 
• The refund claims were rejected by the adjudicating authority on the ground that, appellant being an SEZ unit ought to have filed refund claim in accordance with Notification No. 9/2009-ST dated 3.3.2009, instead of claiming refund under Rule 5 of Cenvat Credit Rules, 2004. The appellant filed appeals before the Commissioner (Appeals) who vide the order impugned herein upheld the order of rejection. 
• Aggrieved by such order, the appellant is now before the Tribunal.

Issue:

• Whether the adjudicating authority has rightly rejected the claim of refund?

 Order:

• The Tribunal observed after going through the provisions under CENVAT Credit Rules, 2004, it does not restrict or bar an SEZ to file refund claim of unutilized credit. The ground stated by the authorities below to reject the refund claim does not appear to be legal or proper.
• In the view of the same, the rejection of refund claim cannot be justified. The impugned order is set aside and appeals filed by the appellant are allowed with consequential relief.