Chapter VII APPEAL AND REVISION

1. (1) Any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under this Regulation by an Excise Officer, may appeal to the Deputy Commissioner.
2. (2) Any person aggrieved by any decision or order of the Deputy Commissioner, may appeal to the Excise Commissioner.
3. (3) An appeal under this section shall be filed within a period of thirty days from the date of receipt of such decision or order together with self-attested copy thereof: Provided that a further period of thirty days may be allowed, if the appellant establishes that sufficient cause prevented him from filing the appeal within the said period of thirty days. ---

1. (1) At the hearing of an appeal, an appellant may be allowed to go into any ground not specified in the grounds of appeal or take additional evidence where necessary, if it is established that such omission was not wilful or unreasonable.
2. (2) The Appellate Authority may, after making such further inquiry as may be necessary, pass such order, as he thinks fit, just and proper, confirming, modifying or annulling the decision or order appealed against, as the case may be.
3. (3) The appeal shall be heard and decided within a period of six months from the date on which such appeal is filed: Provided that if an appeal is not decided within the period specified, the relief prayed for in the appeal shall be deemed to have been granted. ---

1. (1) The order of the Appellate Authority disposing of the appeal shall be in writing and shall state the points for determination, the decision thereon and the reasons for the decision.
2. (2) The Appellate Authority shall communicate the order passed by him to the appellant and the Excise Officer or Deputy Commissioner, as the case may be, whose order formed the subject matter of appeal. ---

The Excise Commissioner may, at any time within six months from the

date of the order, with a view to rectifying any mistake apparent from the record, amend any order passed by him and shall make such amendments if the mistake is brought to his notice by any of the parties to the appeal: Provided that an amendment which has the effect of enhancing an assessment or reducing a refund or otherwise increasing the liability of the other party, shall not be made under this section unless the Excise Commissioner has given notice to the appellant of his intention so to do and has granted him an opportunity of being heard.

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1. (1) The Excise Commissioner may, on his own motion, call for the record of any proceeding in which an officer subordinate to him has taken any decision or passed an order under this Regulation, including those related to the grant, issue or refusal to grant a licence, for the purpose of satisfying himself as to the legality or propriety of any such decision or order and may make such inquiry or cause such inquiry to be made and, subject to the provisions of this Chapter, pass such order thereon as he thinks fit.
2. (2) No order, which is prejudicial to any person, shall be passed under this section unless the person has been given an opportunity of being heard.
3. (3) The Excise Commissioner shall communicate the order passed by him under sub-section
4. (1) to such person and the Excise Officer or Deputy Commissioner, whose order formed the subject matter of revision.
5. (4) No order under this section shall be passed by the Excise Commissioner in respect of any issue, if an appeal against such issue is pending before the Deputy Commissioner.
6. (5) No order under this section shall be passed after the expiry of a period of six months from the date on which the order sought to be revised has been passed. ---

1. (1) Where in any appeal under this Chapter, the decision or order appealed against relates to any duty or fee demanded or any penalty or fine levied under this Regulation, the person desirous of appealing against such decision or order shall, pending the appeal, deposit with the Excise Officer, the duty or fee as demanded or the penalty or fine levied, if such amount exceeds one lakh rupees.
2. (2) Where in any particular case, the Appellate Authority is of the opinion that the appellant has a prima facie case in his favour and deposit of duty demanded or penalty levied would cause undue hardship to such person, the Appellate Authority may dispense with such deposit and stay its recovery subject to such conditions as he may deem fit to impose so as to safeguard the interest of revenue.
3. (3) Where an application is filed for dispensing with the deposit of duty or fee demanded or penalty or fine levied under sub-section (2), the Appellate Authority shall, where it is possible so to do, decide such application within a period of thirty days from the date of its filing.
4. (4) Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section (1), no recovery action shall be initiated against the appellant until the application under sub-section (3) has been decided by the Appellant Authority.

1. (1) Any Government Corporation or Government company or Government agency or any autonomous body owned or controlled by the Government referred to in sub-section (1) of section 6, is aggrieved by the order of the Administrator may file an appeal to the High Court.
2. (2) An appeal shall lie to the High Court from an order passed in appeal by the Excise Commissioner, if the High Court is satisfied that the case involves a substantial question of law.
3. (3) The Government or the other party aggrieved by any order passed by the Excise Commissioner may file an appeal to the High Court and such appeal under this sub-section shall be
   • (a) filed within a period of sixty days from the date on which the order appealed against is received by the Government or the other party;
   • (b) accompanied by a fee of ten per cent. of the amount involved or two thousand rupees, whichever is higher, where such appeal is filed by the other party;
   • (c) in the form of a memorandum of appeal precisely stating therein the substantial question of law involved.
4. (4) Where the High Court is satisfied that a substantial question of law is involved in any case, it shall formulate that question.
5. (5) The appeal shall be heard only on the question so formulated, and the respondent shall, at the hearing of the appeal, be allowed to argue that the case does not involve such question: Provided that nothing in this sub-section shall be deemed to take away or abridge the power of Court to hear, for reasons to be recorded in writing, the appeal on any other substantial question of law not formulated by it, if it is satisfied that the case involves such question of law.
6. (6) The High Court shall decide the question of law so formulated and deliver such judgment thereon containing the grounds on which decision is founded and may award such cost as it deems fit.
7. (7) The High Court may determine any issue which
   • (a) has not been determined by the Excise Commissioner;
   • (b) has been wrongly determined by the Excise Commissioner, by reason of a decision of such question of law as is referred to in sub-section (2).
8. (8) An Appeal under this section shall be heard by a bench of not less than two judges of the High Court, and shall be decided in accordance with the opinion of such judges or of the majority, if any, of such judges.
9. (9) Where there is no such majority, the judges shall state the point of law upon which they differ and the case shall, then, be heard upon that point only by one or more of the other judges of High Court and such point shall be decided according to the opinion of the majority of the judges who have heard the cases including those who first heard it.
10. (10) Save as otherwise provided in this section, the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, relating to the appeals to the High Court shall as far as may be, apply in cases of appeal under this section.

Notwithstanding that an appeal has been preferred to the High Court, sums due to the Government as a result of an order passed by the Excise Commissioner shall be payable in accordance with the order so passed: Provided that nothing contained in this section or Chapter shall affect the inherent powers of the High Court for granting stay on the recovery of such amount.