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2014 (3) TMI 676 - HC - CustomsMaintainability of appeal - Jurisdiction of High Court - Determination of situs of the High Court in which appeals would lie under Section 35G(1) of the Central Excise Act - Section 35G(1) of the Central Excise Act - Held that:- The appellant filed Miscellaneous Application before the Tribunal to restore the appeal and to modify the pre-deposit order. This came to be rejected by the Tribunal by order dated 20.09.2011. Nevertheless, there was an observations by the Tribunal that the Commissioner should not decline to accept the sum of ₹ 25,00,000/-, the appellant pays the sum in one lump sum within one month. The appellant complied with the order and the said amount has been deposited on 22.10.2001. The Tribunal disposed of the appeal by order dated 19.12.2005. Therefore, the appellant having already agitated the matter before the High Court of Andhra Pradesh as against the interim order of the Tribunal and knowing fully well that the adjudicating authority as well as appellate authority are situated within the jurisdiction of the High Court of Andhra Pradesh, the appellant was carrying on business at Visakhapatnam, choose to file this appeal before this Court. That apart even earlier the appellant moved the High Court of Andhra Pradesh for release of the goods in which direction was issued to the Andhra Pradesh State Excise authorities to deliver the siezed goods to the Customs Authorities of Andhra Pradesh to be kept in the wareshouses. The conduct of the appellant in filing the appeal before this Court is not appreciable and it is a definite case of "forum shopping". This is one more reason for us to hold that the appeal cannot be entertained by this Court. Appellant submitted that the appeal having been admitted in 2006, the appellant should not be compelled to approach the High Court of Andhra Pradesh and the appeal should be heard on merits. The submission deserves to be rejected, since this is not a case where the appellant has approached this Court by way of writ petition under Article 226 without availing the statutory appellate remedy and in certain cases, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has held that if the writ petitions have been entertained and pending for a long period of time, the petitioner should not be relegated to the statutory Appellate Authorities. Such principle cannot be applied to the case on hand, as being a statutory appeal under Section 130 of the Act and the territorial jurisdiction of this Court cannot extend over the authorities functioning under the Customs Act in the State of Andhra Pradesh - The learned counsel appearing for the appellant requested this Court to grant liberty to the appellant to approach the High Court of Andhra Pradesh. No such liberty can be granted to the appellant except to observe that the appeal before this Court was presented on 10.04.2006, within the period of limitation and admitted on 13.04.2006 - Decided against assessee.
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