No Cross Objection Before Commissioner (Appeals)
IN response to DDT's comments yesterday on the facility of filing Cross Objections before the CESTAT, an alert Netizen asked us why similar facility is not allowed before Commissioner (Appeals). Well, the Law does not provide for this. So, if you are aggrieved by any part of an order passed by an Authority lower in rank to the Commissioner of Central Excise, you have to invariably appeal to the Commissioner (Appeals).
In fact, this issue was agitated before the Tribunal. In Ecoboard Industries vs Commissioner of Central Excise - , the Tribunal observed, "Section 35B(4) provides that "On receipt of notice that appeal has been preferred under this section, the party against whom the appeal has been preferred may, notwithstanding that he may not have appealed against such order or any part thereof, file, within 45 days of the receipt of the notice, memorandum of cross objections verified in the prescribed manner against any part of the order appealed against and such memorandum shall be disposed of by the Appellate Tribunal as if it were an appeal presented within the time specified in sub-section (3) of Section 35B." Section 35B(4) of the Central Excise Act is therefore applicable to appeals filed before the Tribunal and does not apply to appeals filed before Commissioner (Appeals). The CEGAT Procedure Rules 15 and 15A also provide specifically for filing of memorandum of cross objection before the Tribunal, which is to be treated as an appeal. No similar provisions exist under the Central Excise (Appeals) Rules, 2001. Therefore, there is no legal provision providing for filing of cross objection before Commissioner (Appeals)".