Page 135 - ELT_1st June 2020_VOL 372_Part 5th

2020 ] LILARAM ARJANDAS ASUDANI v. UNION OF INDIA 669
regard to the material placed before, held that the adjudicating authority was not
justified in imposing duty liability on the Noticee-appellants jointly and several-
ly. It also held the action of the respondent authority of not providing the No-
ticee-appellants the relevant documents/evidences so as to enable them to de-
fend themselves to be violative of the principles of natural justice and according-
ly, directed the respondent authority to furnish all the relevant documents and to
complete assessment within the period stipulated in the order.
13. The Court notices that the order dated 20-1-2017 passed by the
CESTAT has not been complied with by the respondents. Instead of approaching
the CESTAT seeking modification of its order dated 20-1-2017, the respondent
No. 2 has proceeded with the assessment proceedings in utter disregard of the
directions issued by the CESTAT. In our opinion, if the respondent No. 2 was of
the view that it would not be possible for it to comply with the directions issued
by the CESTAT in the order dated 20-1-2017, then it ought to have taken recourse
to any other remedy available under the law. The respondent authority could not
assume the role of a Judge in its own cause.
14. At this stage, a reference to Section 129B of the Customs Act, 1962
would be apposite. Sub-section (1) thereof authorises the Appellate Tribunal to
pass such orders as it thinks fit for affirming, modifying or annulling the decision
or order appealed against or may refer the case back to the authority, which
passed such decision or other with such directions as the Appellate Tribunal may
think fit for a fresh adjudication, after giving the parties to the appeal an oppor-
tunity of being heard. Sub-section (2) thereof provides that the Appellate Tribu-
nal may, at any time within six months from the date of the order, with a view to
rectify any mistake apparent from the record, amend any order passed by it un-
der sub-section (1) and shall make such amendment/s, if the mistake is brought
to its notice by the Commissioner of Customs or other party to appeal; subject to
the condition that an amendment which has the effect of enhancing the assess-
ment or reducing a refund or otherwise increasing the liability of the other party
shall not be made under this sub-section unless the Appellate Tribunal has given
notice to him of its intention to do so and has allowed him a reasonable oppor-
tunity of being heard. As is evident from this provision, the Commissioner of
Customs or the other party to appeal can bring to the notice of the Appellate Tri-
bunal within a period of six months from the date of the order, any mistake with
a view to rectify such mistake apparent from the order and in such case, the Ap-
pellate Tribunal is empowered to amend any order passed by it under sub-
section (1) and shall make such amendments. The section empowers the re-
spondent authority to bring it to the notice of the Appellate Tribunal that in the
given set of circumstances, it would be difficult for the authority to comply with
the directions issued by the Appellate Tribunal and accordingly, seek amend-
ment of its order. It is necessary that once any direction is issued by any Appel-
late Authority, the same is scrupulously followed by the authority against whom
the directions are issued.
14.1 In the instant case, even without examining the reasons as to why
the respondent authority was unable to comply with the directions issued by the
CESTAT in its order dated 20-1-2017 in toto, the fact remains that the respondent
authority has not supplied the documents, which it was asked to do so by the
CESTAT, to the petitioner. Hence, the best course of action that was available to
the respondent authority was to request the CESTAT to amend its earlier order
by filing appropriate application within the stipulated period instead of insisting
upon the petitioner to go ahead with the assessment. This can never be the spirit
EXCISE LAW TIMES  1st June 2020  135