Larger Bench of High Court rules that remand by a Division Bench not correct. Same case in different Benches of High Court
THIS is an interesting case giving rise to complicated issues. The CESTAT Mumbai Bench in (2011-TIOL-288-CESTAT-MUM) decided 38 Central Excise Stay Applications by a common order. The Tribunal ordered pre-deposit of 50 per cent of the duties demanded. One of the parties in this case, SRJ Peety Steels Pvt Ltd , appealed to the Aurangabad Bench of the Bombay High Court. And the High Court remanded the matter to the Tribunal (). Revenue had approached the Supreme Court against this order, which was dismissed.
Some other parties involved in the CESTAT order approached the Mumbai Bench of the High Court. And the Mumbai Bench did not agree with the Aurangabad Bench and referred the matter to a Larger Bench. ().
The Larger Bench gave its decision on 9th November 2011 – day before yesterday. The larger Bench also did not agree with the Aurangabad Bench and held that it cannot be treated as a precedent and so the Bombay Division Bench is competent to decide the appeal on merits.
So, now the situation is: The Aurangabad Bench decision upheld by the Supreme Court is binding on the Tribunal, as far as the appellant SRJ Peety Steels , is concerned and the Tribunal has to pass an order on remand. While the Tribunal's Stay Order is set aside by the Aurangabad Bench of the High Court, the other parties in the appeal have to agitate the same issue before the Bombay Bench. In effect, in relation to some parties, the CESTAT order does not exist, while for others it does! Two parties appealing against the same order will get two different orders just because of their geographical location!
Perhaps we should bring in some change in Law to stipulate that all parties covered in an order of the Tribunal should appeal to only one single Bench of the High Court irrespective of their location. Maybe the appeal should be made to the High Court having jurisdiction over the location of the Tribunal.
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