HANDLING CESTAT APPEALS

[Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal]

Validity of registration fee

Vide Circular dated 20.07.2016, it has been advised that since the Demand Draft (DD) Pay Order (PO) is valid only for three months and that scrutiny, rectification of defects, forwarding the demand draft or pay order for clearance consumes considerable time, it should be ensured that DD/PO submitted towards appeal application fee must be valid for atleast 60 days on the date of submission of appeal.

Submission of brief note

Vide Cestat Circular dated 1.8.2016, it has been advised that in order to expedite the disposal of cases, the parties to appeals can submit a brief note in 3-4 pages at the time of hearing. It appears that this 3-4 pages synopsis may help the Bench to have a quick glance and reference to the factual matrix and issues involved in an appeal.

Vide Cestat Notification No. 1/2017 dated 25.01.2017, it has been directed that all stakeholders should follow the following in respect of appeals filed before the Tribunal:

" 1. Certified copy means the original copy of the order received by the party, or a  (including a Photostat copy) thereof duly authenticated by the concerned department, or a copy (including a Photostat copy) duly authenticated by the Advocate/Charted Accountant/Consultant duly authorized by the appellant. [Rule 2(f)]

2. Every memorandum of appeal, cross-objections, reference applications, stay applications or any other miscellaneous applications shall also be typed neatly in double spacing on the A4 size paper and the same shall be duly paged, indexed and tagged firmly with each paper book put in a separate folder. [Rule 8(2)]."

Seeking adjournment before Cestat

Vide Cestat Notice dated 8.11.2016, it has been advised to advocates / consultants and authorised representatives of the parties to  intimate regarding seeking of adjournment to the opposite parties (counsel) at least before 48 hours of hearing of the appeal /cases. Parties are requested to exchange written note /case law etc. at list 48 hrs in advance.

This has been done to discourage seeking adjournment in the open court at the time of hearing which cause difficulties to other parties who have made the preparation and travelled to argue the case.

Numbering system for registration of appeals and orders

Vide Cestat Circular dated 30.12.2016, five digit numbers have been assigned for registration of appeals at different benches of Cestat. The relevant extracts of the Circular are as under:

"All concerned are aware that separate blocks of digits system has been implemented from 01/01/2013 for registration of appeals and identification of orders for each Bench. All appeals may continue to be allotted with unique number as per the series shown below!3 The same pattern may be followed in numbering of orders too. The different Benches will have to follow the five digit numbers in the block as indicated below against them.

Bench	Series
Ahmedabad	10000-20000
Bangalore	20001-30000
Hyderabad	30001-40000
Chennai	40001-50000
Delhi	50001-60000
Chandigarh	60001-70000
Allahabad	70001-75000
Kolkata	75001-85000
Mumbai	85001-99000

Alternative Appeals

Vide Circular No. 1 (05) /Circular / Cestat / 2017 dated 27.02.2017, it has been directed  to concerned parties while filing appeal/ applications before the Tribunal, they have to give an undertaking in the following format along with the appeals / applications to be filed before Cestat:

"Matter not previously filed or pending before any other legal forum including Hon'ble High Courts/Supreme Court.

The appellant/ applicant further declares that he has not previously filed any appeal, writ petition or suit regarding the impugned order, before any court or any other authority or any other Bench of the Tribunal."

This has been done to curb and check the practice of seeking alternate or simultaneous remedies before other forums such as High Courts / Supreme Court which may be suppressed while filing appeal or application etc before the Tribunal.