COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE, CUSTOMS Vs. KAILASH ELECTRICALS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) Against the order of the Tribunal dated 2-12-2014 granting waiver from pre-deposit of the executed liability and staying the liability during the pendency of the appeal the Central Excise Department has filed the present appeal under Section 35G Central Excise Act, 1944 contending that the interim order passed by the Tribunal was in violation of the third proviso to Section 35C(2A) of the Act, which was inserted by the Finance Act, 2013. For facility the third proviso to Section 35G of the Act is extracted hereunder:

(2.) We find that a large number of appeals are filed by the Department against the interim order passed by the Tribunal against the order extending the stay order and in all these appeals the common ground urged is that the Tribunal has no power to pass stay order unconditionally or extend the stay order beyond 365 days.

(3.) A further prayer was made by the learned Counsel for the Department that in the alternative, a direction should be issued to the Tribunal to decide the appeal within a stipulated period. No data has been shown by the Department as to how many appeals are pending before the Tribunal or how many Benches of the Tribunal are functioning.