ORDER
C.N.B. Nair, Member (T)
1. Heard both sides and perused the record. The appellant paid service tax for the period September 1999 to March 2004. A refund application was filed on 13-8-04 seeking refund of the entire service tax paid on the ground that the service tax rendered did not come within the ambit of the service tax and that tax was paid under mistake of law. Commissioner Appeals accepted the appellant’s submission that the tax was not due, but limited the refund amount to the period of one year prior to the date of refund application. While doing so, he was following the statutory time limit.
2. The contention in the present appeal is that appellant paid service tax under mistake of law and the Commissioner Appeals was in error in imposing time limit on the appellant’s claim.
3. There is no merit in the appellant’s contention. It is well settled that when a statute fixes a time limit, all the statutory authorities are bound by that time limit. That being the legal position, Commissioner could not have allowed the refund beyond the period of limitation stipulated under the statute. Nor can the Tribunal waive the time limit.
4. In the result, the appeals fail and are rejected.
(Dictated and pronounced in open Court)