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TMI Blog2019 (1) TMI 708X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ned AGA appearing for the respondent no. 1. These are two connected criminal applications under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code. The Criminal Application No. 11882 of 2008 has been filed on behalf of the company namely ITC Limited whereas the Criminal Application No. 3251 of 1999 has been filed on behalf of the Directors of the said company. The prayer in both the criminal applications is to quash the proceedings of Criminal Case No. 875 of 1998 (Shailendra Sharma vs. ITC and others) pending before the Court of Special Chief Judicial Magistrate, Meerut, which had commenced on a complaint dated 31.8.1998 of an offence punishable under Sections 9 and 9AA of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The basis of the said criminal complaint wa ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dated 4.8.1983, 100/85 dated 25.3.1985, 134/85 dated 24.5.1985, 201/85 dated 2.9.1985, as amended by No. 210/85 dated 20.9.1985 and No. 78/86-CE dated 10.2.1986. The company had also made wilful misstatement regarding the adjusted 'sale price per thousand cigarettes' and 'sale price' of the cigarettes as aforementioned. Vide order dated 4.9.1998, the Customs, Excise and Gold(control) Appellate Tribunal (CEGAT) had allowed the appeal in part. As far as the order of confirmation of demand on the appellants, the same was set aside remanding the matter back to the adjudication authority for fresh quantification of duty demand on the company in accordance with the findings given therein and direction was issued for fresh comput ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ffective prices" at which the retailers may sell the packages to consumers and treat such prices as the printed prices for the purpose of determining the rate of duty applicable. The consequences of this interpretation by the Tribunal would be starting. There is no dispute that the Notification envisages a single retail price in respect of certain brands of cigarettes. It is this single retail price which has to be printed on the package. If one were to accept the High Court's prima facie view, the printed MRP should reflect the actual price at which the particular kind of cigarette is sold throughout the country. The patent impossibility of this was acknowledged by the Tribunal which held that the actual price at which the cigarettes w ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... r, the question whether the price so fixed by the Excise authority is 'reasonable' or not would itself be justiciable with the consequent blockage of revenue in the quagmire of litigation. That is precisely what the Notification had sought to avoid. 57. The certainty of specific rates which was sought to be achieved by the notification has been undone by the adjudicating authority and the Tribunal. The notification had introduced a system for levy of excise duty on an experimental basis. If the experiment was a failure for whatever reason, it was open to the respondents to do away with it and replace the system by some other as it did in 1987. But as long as the notification stood, it had to be given effect to. In the view we have ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Supreme Court Cases 581. Relevant paragraph '47' is quoted as under:- "47. Bearing in mind the principles aforesaid we proceed to consider the case of the appellant. In the adjudication proceeding on merit the adjudicating authority has categorically held that "the charges against Shri Radheshyam Kejriwal for contravening the provisions of Section 9(1)(f)(i) and Section 8(2) read with Section 64(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 cannot be sustained". In the face of the aforesaid finding by the Enforcement Directorate in adjudication proceeding that there is no contravention of any of the provisions of the Act, it would be unjust and an abuse of the process of the court to permit the Enforcement Directorate to continu ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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