New Delhi: In a major relief for Sun Pharma Laboratories, the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Eastern Zonal Bench, Kolkata, has set aside a demand of Rs 828.4 crore raised by the Siliguri Commissionerate over alleged erroneous excise duty refunds claimed under the Sikkim area-based industrial exemption scheme.

The bench, comprising Judicial Member R. Muralidhar and Technical Member K. Anpazhakan, held that the refunds were valid and that the Revenue had no authority to reopen finalized orders.

The dispute arose from a show cause notice dated 19 October 2016, in which the department alleged that Sun Pharma had wrongly availed refund benefits totaling Rs 82,84,25,639 under Notification No. 56/2003-CE, though its Sikkim unit had commenced commercial production

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