STEWARTS & LLOYDS OF INDIA LIMITED Vs. CESTAT

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This writ application has been filed challenging an Order No. S/1291/Kol/2012, dated 11-10-2012 of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, East Regional Bench, Kolkata, whereby the learned Tribunal disposed of the Stay Petition of the petitioner being SP-634 of 2010 in the Appeal being S.T. Appeal No. 275 of 2010 filed by the petitioner. It is not in dispute that notices of the date of hearing had been issued. The petitioner, however, submits that the only person conversant with matters pertaining to taxation who had been looking after all taxation cases of the petitioner company including service tax cases fell ill, as a result of which, there was some chaos and confusion in the petitioner company.

(2.) The learned Tribunal by its impugned order decided the stay application on its merits in the absence of the petitioner, inter alia, observing that the applicants, that is, the writ petitioners had not produced copies of contract and invoices involved in the case and that there was no evidence of financial hardship.

(3.) It is well settled by judicial pronouncements that financial hardship is not the only criteria for dispensation of the requirement of pre-deposit. Undue hardship is not financial hardship alone, even though undue hardship would certainly include acute financial hardship.