Ministry of Finance
Department of Revenue
Central Board of Excise & Customs
New Delhi 22nd September, 2011
INSTRUCTION
To,
1. All Chief Commissioners and Directors General under the Central Board of
Excise and Customs.
2. CDR, Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal.
3. All Commissioners of Customs/Central Excise/Service Tax/All Joint Chief
Departmental Representatives/Commissioners, Directorate of Legal Affairs.
4. <[email protected]>
SUBJECT: Filing of appeal in the wrong forum in
matters relating to valuation of determination of rate of duty – reg.
Sir/Madam,
Reference is invited to Section 35L(b) of the Central Excise Act,1944, made
applicable to Service Tax vide Section 83 0f the Finance Act,1994 and Section
130E(b) of the Customs Act, 1962 which stipulates that appeal shall lie to the
Supreme Court against a Tribunal order in a case involving determination of any
question having a relation to the rate of duty or value of the goods for the
purpose of assessment. Your attention is also invited to
Circular No
935/25/2010-CX dated 21.09.2010 regarding Measures to streamline the processing
of departmental litigation before the Courts and Tribunals.
- Annexure I of the said Circular deals with provisions for filing of (a) Civil
appeals/SLP against the High Court order before the Supreme Court and (b) Civil
Appeal against any Tribunal order. It was mentioned therein that Civil Appeal
against the Tribunal order is required to be filed in the Supreme Court in cases
relating, among other things, to the determination of any question having a
relation to the rate of duty or the value of goods for the purposes of
assessment as statutorily prescribed.
- It has come to the notice of the Board that field formations have filed
appeals in the jurisdictional High Courts in matters relating either to
determination of rate of duty or value of the goods which ought to have been
filed in the Supreme Court. Such appeals get dismissed by the High Courts on the
ground of jurisdiction alone, invariably after pending for a long time. Civil
Appeals filed in the Supreme Court in such cases have frequently been dismissed
on the ground of limitation. It may also be noted that the time period for
filing Civil Appeal is 60 days from the date of receipt of the Tribunal order in
the Commissionerate.
- The Commissioners are, therefore, directed to examine the issue involved in
the dispute very carefully for deciding the appellate forum. The jurisdictional
Chief Commissioners, while giving concurrence to the proposal for filing appeal,
are expected to ensure that appeal is being filed in the correct forum in order
to avoid needless litigation being pursued in the wrong forum and consequent
loss of revenue.
- The above may be brought to the notice of the field formations under your
charge for scrupulous compliance.
Yours faithfully,
(Sunil K Sinha)
Director (Review)
Tele.No. 26162156
F.No.390/Misc./100/2010-JC