Time to bar appeals falling below a mandatory amount of Revenue
A Netizen writes in:-
With a view to reduce Government litigation, the CBEC has vide Instruction F.No. 390/Misc./163/2010-JC, dated 17-8-2011 [issued in continuation of earlier Instruction dated 20.10.2010] prescribed monetary limits for filing appeals by the Department before CESTAT and High Courts. According to the same, it is advised that appeals in the Tribunal shall not be filed where the duty involved is Rs. 5 Lakh and below. As usual, there are riders to this advice too!
The earlier Instruction F. No. 390/Misc./163/2010-JC, dated 20-10-2010 also mentions -
"7. It may also be noted that, wherever it is decided not to file appeal in pursuance of these instructions, which are aimed solely at reducing Government litigation, such cases shall not have any precedent value... Further, in such cases, there will be no presumption that the Department has acquiesced in the decision on the disputed issues in the case of same assessee or in case of any other assessees, if the amount involved exceeds the monetary limits..."
However, the assessee can always appeal for even a rupee notwithstanding that the second proviso to section 35B(1) of the CEA, 1944 gives the Appellate Tribunal discretion to refuse to admit an appeal where the amount of duty/fine/penalty does not exceed fifty thousand rupees. In fact, this amount of Rs.50,000/- was last revised on 13.05.1993 by the Finance Act, 1993 and certainly needs a hike!
There are more than sixteen thousand appeals pending with the CESTAT, WZB and the matters being heard are for the period 2003-2004 is what the Bench observed in the case of Ambika Waste Management Pvt. Ltd. [2011-TIOL-1063-CESTAT-Mum].
In such a scenario, isn't it time to take note of the anomaly and make suitable amendments in the Act itself? Inasmuch as both the assessee and the Department should be restricted from filing appeal in cases which involve Revenue below a particular quantum. It should also be laid down in the statute that non-filing of appeals on account of the ‘monetary restriction' should not used against the assessee or for that matter, the department, in subsequent proceedings.
The moot point is - Un-necessary litigation drains the resources of the assessee as well as the exchequer.
In a recent case, the CESTAT, WZB [2012-TIOL-1485-CESTAT-Mum] admitted an appeal involving a duty amount of Rs.771/-.