Appellant fails to pay cost of imposed Rs.5000/- for restoration of appeal - appeals dismissed
AGAINST an order passed by the Commissioner of Customs (Import), Nhava Sheva in the year 2009, the appellants had filed appeals before the CESTAT.
Although the appeals were listed for hearing on several occasions, the appellants failed to appear and, therefore, the CESTAT had dismissed the same on 30.03.2012 by observing that the appellants were not interested in pursuing the appeals.
Subsequently, the appellant made their appearance and filed an application for restoration of their appeals. They made an emotional plea that they have been out of business since 2005 and they have not been able to revive their business and had engaged on employee to receive communication from various places including the Government departments; that since the said employee could not get salary on time, he did not inform the appellants; therefore, they were not aware of notice of hearing on 30.03.2012 and hence could not be present.
The CESTAT sympathised with the appellants and laid down the following condition for restoration of the appeals by observing (2012-TIOL-1946-CESTAT-MUM) -
"4. In this case, it has been observed that the non-representation of the appellants is not restricted to 30.03.2012 only. The case has been listed several times earlier on 19.12.2011, 20.01.2012 and 30.03.2012 was given as a last chance. Therefore, it is not a case for non-appearance on single occasion but on several occasions. Therefore, the explanation given by the appellant is not convincing as to why they were not represented on earlier occasions. Since the case has been dismissed for non-prosecution, we are of the view that the applications for restoration should be considered only on cost basis.
5. Accordingly, we direct the appellants to pay a cost of Rs.5000/- for each of the appeals and remit the same to the credit of the Commissioner of Customs (Import), Nhava Sheva within four weeks from today and report compliance on 15.01.2013. On such compliance, the appeals and stay applications shall be restored to their original numbers. The miscellaneous applications are disposed of in the above terms. "
However, when the matter was called for compliance, nobody appeared for the appellants and no compliance was reported.
So, the Bench dismissed the appeals and stay applications.