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2023 (12) TMI 173 - HC - Central ExciseRestoration of appeal - non payment of necessary pre-deposit under the provisions of Section 35 of the Central Excise Act, 1954 - HELD THAT:- The applicants-Directors themselves were filing the applications for restoration of the appeals which had already been dismissed by the Tribunal after noticing the non-compliance of the order not only of the Tribunal but also the order of this Court dated 10.10.2013 (Annexure A-6) whereby only Rs. 6 crores was to be deposited. As noticed above, the Apex Court had reduced the amount further to Rs. 4 crores and the appeal was only to be restored subject to the said deposits. The said amounts had never been deposited. The Directors could not hide behind the legal shield that the company had been directed to pay the amount and they were the persons who were agitating before this Court and the Apex Court that the company was functioning through them. The Tribunal in such circumstances has over-stepped its jurisdiction by allowing the application for condonation of delay and restoration of the appeals and thereafter proceeded ahead with the matter for the reasons best known to it. We do not wish to comment on the orders passed by the Tribunal in the present facts and circumstances. The question of law must be answered in favour of the Revenue that the Tribunal had no jurisdiction and would have become functus-officio once the amounts had never been deposited inspite of the directions in the SLPs dated 21.08.2015. The applications filed at the belated stage by the Directors themselves in the year 2018 for condoning the delay on 10.08.2018 was apparently time-barred and there was no sufficient cause to condone the delay also which had been done by the Tribunal. Appeal allowed.
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