TMI Blog1983 (11) TMI 323X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... and (4) of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968. In regard to the contravention of Section 16, the party claimed that he held the gold coins with the ornaments in the capacity of a family and under Section 16(5), no declaration was required to be made as total holdings of gold coins and gold ornaments were only 1398.300 gms. excluding the weight of gems and stones. 2. With regard to the charges of contravention of Section 8 (3) and (4) of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968, 32 gold coins were seized from the possession of the appellant. He stated that 5 gold coins belonged to him, 5 to his son Sh. Pawan Kumar, 5 to Lord Ganesh Virajman at his residence and 12 to his wife Smt. Prema Devi. All these 27 gold coins were said to have been acquired before ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... v. Collector of Central Excise, West Bengal, Calcutta, reported in 1983 ECR 1441 D CEGAT (Cal.) in support of his contention that from the provisions of Section 78 and the notification issued by the Government of India, it is clear that the Additional Collector of Central Excise is an officer below the rank of a Collector of Central Excise under Section 80 (amended) and therefore an appeal against the order of adjudication of the Gold Control Officer lower in rank than a Collector of Central Excise lies to the Collector (Appeals) and not to the Appellate Tribunal. 6. Sh. S.S. Agarwal the appellant argued his case in person and submitted that this issue is settled by CEGAT, New Delhi (Full Bench Decision) in the case of S. Kumar and oth ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n arises as to who this person is, one has to look at his definition somewhere when administratively it has not been defined under the Gold (Control) Act. If such is a situation, one has necessarily to refer to the Excise Act in view of the aforesaid delegation of powers upon them and under the Excise Act, Collector has been defined to include the Additional Collector and in view of the full Bench decision of this Tribunal-S. Kumar Others (Supra) the appeal lies before this Tribunal. 8. He also argued that under Section 80 of the Gold (Control) Act as it stood prior to its amendment by the Finance (No. 2) Act, 1980, the Additional Collector of Central Excise and Customs, as the case may be, has been treated at par with Collectors. He d ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ther the Addl. Collector is a Collector for the purpose of Section 33 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944. After going through the provisions of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, the Hon ble Members of the Bench by majority decision held that term Collector includes Additional Collector both under the Excise Act as well as under the Excise Rules by virtue of definition given in Rule 2 (ii) of Excise Rules and under those circumstances it was held that an appeal against the order of the Additional Collector shall lie to the Appellate Tribunal and not to the Collector (Appeals). 11. The case before us is under the provisions of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968 which is a complete code in itself and as such we have to look into th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... adjudicating authority; (b) an order passed by the Collector (Appeals) under Section 80 (a); (c) an order passed by the Administrator, Collector of Central Excise or of Customs or the Appellate Collector of Customs under Section 80 as it stood immediately before the appointed day; and (d) an order passed by the Administrator either before or after the appointed day under Section 81 as it stood immediately before that day............. 14. A perusal of the provisions of these two Sections show that any decision or order passed under the Act by the Gold (Control) Officer lower in rank than a Collector of Central Excise or of Customs will lie to the Collector (Appeals) and not to the Tribunal. It is only against the order or decision passe ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... d the other Gold Control Officers not below the rank of Superintendent of Central Excise, by no stretch of imagination it can be presumed that the Additional Collector of Central Excise performing the duties of Gold Control Officer will be treated as Collector of Cen- tral Excise or of Customs for the purpose of filing the appeal against his order. 17. This very issue arose in a case Sunil Kumar Ghosh v. Collector of Central Excise, West Bengal, Calcutta (1983 ECR 1441 D) (CEGAT Calcutta) wherein it was held that the Additional Collector of Central Excise is an officer below the rank of a Collector of Central Excise under Section 80 (amended) and therefore any application against the order or decision of the Gold Control Officer lower in ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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