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2020 (12) TMI 962 - AT - CustomsRight of department to file any appeal or cross-objections before the Commissioner (Appeals) - Section 128 of the Customs Act - Deputy Commissioner had sanctioned the refund amount but a direction was given that this amount should be credited to the Consumer Welfare Fund in terms of section 27(2) - HELD THAT:- A perusal of section 128 of the Customs Act shows that any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under the Act by an officer of customs lower in rank than a Principal Commissioner or Commissioner may appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals). This section does not provide for filing of cross-objections, unlike sub-section of (4) of section 129A of the Customs Act which, in regard to Appeals to the Appellate Tribunal, provides for filing a memorandum of cross-objections against any part of the order appealed against and also provides that such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified. Section 128 of the Customs Act dealing with Appeal to Commissioner (Appeals) provides that any person aggrieved by any decision or order may appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals). The right to file cross-objection is a substantive right conferred by a statue and can be exercised only in accordance with the provisions of the statue. Thus, neither could the Department have filed any appeal against the order of the Deputy Commissioner as it could not have considered itself to be aggrieved by the order since the Deputy Commissioner had not directed for the amount to be paid to Vivo Mobile but had directed to be credited in the Consumer Welfare Fund, nor was it permissible in law for the Department to have filed cross-objections in the appeal filed by the Vivo Mobile before the Commissioner (Appeals) since cross-objections cannot be filed before the Commissioner (Appeals). It is, therefore, more than apparent that the Department could neither have filed an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) against a part of the order passed by the Deputy Commissioner nor it could have filed cross-objections in the appeal filed by the Vivo Mobile before the Commissioner (Appeals) against that part of the order sanctioning the refund amount since the right to file cross-objection has not been conferred under section 128 of the Customs Act, which deals with appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals). The appeals may now be listed for hearing on 06 July, 2020.
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