CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL NEW DELHI PRINCIPAL BENCH - COURT NO. III EXCISE APPEAL NO.50235 OF 2024 [Arising out Order-in-Appeal No.50(RLM) CE/JPR/2023 dated 06.10.2023 passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Central Excise & CGST, Jaipur]

M/s. KEI Industries Ltd., Appellant A-280-281-282-283-284, RIICO Industrial Area, Chopanki, Bhiwadi, Distt. Alwar, Rajasthan.

Vs.

Commissioner of Central Goods &

Service Tax & Central Excise, Respondent A-Block, Surya Nagar, Alwar, Rajasthan-301 001.

Appearance:

Present for the Appellant : Ms. Priyanka Goel, Advocate Present for the Respondent: Shri Kuldeep Rawat, Authorised Representative CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. BINU TAMTA, MEMBER (JUDICIAL)

FINAL ORDER NO.50405 /2026 Date of Hearing/Decision: 18.03.2026 BINU TAMTA:

1. Challenge in the present appeal is to the order-in-appeal, 50(RLM)/CE/JPR/2023 dated October 6, 2023, whereby the refund application filed by the appellant was rejected both on merits as well as on limitation.

2. Brief facts of the case are that M/s. KEI Industries Ltd., The Appellant having Central Excise Registration No.AACK0251CXM002 has filed refund claim amounting to Rs. 21,27,746/- (Education Cess of Rs. 13,52,493/- and Secondary Education Cess of Rs. 7,75,253/-) on 11.10.2021 under Section 11B along with interest under Section 11BB of Central Excise Act, 1944. The appellant upto June, 2017 availed the Cenvat Credit of

Education Cess and other Cesses which were lying unutilized in their Central Excise/Service Tax return for the month of June, 2017. Further, the appellant carried forward these balances of unutilized Cesses lying in Central Excise return for the month of June, 2017 to GST regime-2017 through the FORM TRAN-1. The Departmental Audit Team during the audit of TRAN-1 had objected on carrying forward of the Education Cesses of Rs. 21,27,746/- The appellant agreed to audit objection and reversed the amount of Rs. 21,27,746/- of Cesses in GSTR-3B flied for the month August 2018. The appellant then requested that the unutilized Cenvat Credit of Cess may be refunded to them in Cash as per the provision applicable under Section 142 of the Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017.

3. The Refund claim of Rs.21,27,746/- was found liable to be rejected on merit as well as time limitation clause in terms of Section 11B of Central Excise Act, 1944 by the sanctioning authority and therefore Show cause notice was issued to the appellant proposing as to why refund claim filed by them should not be rejected. The appellant submitted his reply in defence. However, the Adjudicating Authority rejected the refund. 4. The submission of the learned Authorised Representative for the Department is that the present appeal is now covered by the decision of the Larger Bench in the case of the appellant tilted as “M/s. KEI Industries Ltd.” ³. The learned Counsel for the appellant fairly agreed that the appeal has to be dismissed in terms of the law laid down by the Larger Bench in the said case.

3 Interim Order No.08/2025 dated 20.11.2025 in Excise Appeal No.50090 of 2024

5. From the decision of the Larger Bench, I find that the issues referred were as under:-

“(a) Whether after abolition of Education Cess in 2015, same could be transited to GST Regime in 2017 in view of decision of M/s.Nu-Vista Ltd. or as decided in the matter of M/s. NMDC Ltd.?

(b) Whether filing of claim of refund after 2017 will be affected by limitation?

The Larger Bench answered the reference in the following terms:-

“55. In view of the above discussions, we agree with the decision arrived at by the Tribunal in the case of NMDC and hold that no refund can be granted for the blocked Education Cess, SHE Cess and KKC under the provisions of Section 142(3). We also hold that the refund claims, if filed after 1.3.2016 /1.6.2016 would be time-barred.

6. In the present case, the refund application was filed on October 11, 2021 and the same is barred by limitation. On merits, the entitlement to refund stands rejected in terms o