Home Case Index All Cases Central Excise Central Excise + HC Central Excise - 2015 (2) TMI HC This
Forgot password New User/ Regiser ⇒ Register to get Live Demo
2015 (2) TMI 184 - RAJASTHAN HIGH COURTWaiver of pre deposit - Extension of stay order - Whether the Hon'ble CESTAT was right in law in allowing the Miscellaneous Application filed by respondents, overlooking the insertion of third proviso in Section 35C(2A) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 vide Finance Act, 2013 and thereafter by wrongly applying the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court pronounced in the case of Commissioner of Customs Central Excise, Ahmedabad vs. Kumar Cotton Mills Pvt. Ltd., reported in [2005 (1) TMI 114 - SUPREME COURT OF INDIA], vide which the Interim Stay as granted vide Stay Order No.ST/1737-1738 of 2012 dated 09.10.2012 has been ordered to be continued until further orders - Held that:- A request was made by learned counsel appearing for the assessees that the Court may issue direction to establish more number of Benches and for establishment of Circuit Benches to visit the States to decide the matters. They have relied upon a judgment in Metlife India Insurance Co. Ltd. Vs. Union of India, [2013 (4) TMI 78 - KARNATAKA HIGH COURT], in which an observation was made that the Union of India has failed to set up large number of Tribunals such as CESTAT and if this is done, then there would be no cause for complaint over the non-consideration of the applications for stay, in appeals, by only one Tribunal, presently functioning at Bengalore. Only two Benches and one single member is looking after stay matters and hearing of the appeals, arising out of eight States, namely Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhatisgarh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh. They have also relied upon para 252 of the speech of Minister of Finance in Lok Sabha, dated July 10, 2014, in which it was stated that to expedite the process of disposal of appeals, amendments have been proposed in the Customs and Central Excise Acts with a view to freeing appellate authorities from hearing stay applications and to take up regular appeals for final disposal. Consequently, the Act was amended with effect from 01.10.2014, omitting Section 35C(2A), with a deposit of 7.5% of the demand for first appeal, and 10% for second appeal. Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the pendency of the appeals in the CESTAT, New Delhi, we dispose of the present writ petitions as well as the Excise Appeals, in accordance with the view taken by the Allahabad High Court in Commissioner, Customs And Central Excise Versus M/s JP. Transformers [2013 (10) TMI 1194 - ALLAHABAD HIGH COURT], with directions to the CESTAT, New Delhi, to decide the appeals as expeditiously as possible, and preferably within a period of six months from today. The waiver of pre-deposit. to the extent directed by CESTAT, will be valid until the final disposal of the appeal. This order has been passed with an understanding that the assessees will not seek any unavoidable adjournment. - Appeal disposed of.
|