Unsettled law on manufacture of electric transmission poles justified waiver of pre-deposit pending appeal.

Conflicting Tribunal rulings on whether making electric transmission poles amounts to manufacture left the legal position unsettled until resolution by a Larger Bench. At the pre-deposit stage, that uncertainty entitled the assessee to the benefit of the doubt, so waiver of deposit pending appeal was justified. The assessee was therefore not required to make the pre-deposit, and the appeal was to proceed without insisting on deposit.

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Issues: Whether, in view of conflicting Tribunal decisions on whether the process of making electric transmission poles amounted to manufacture, the assessee was entitled to waiver of deposit pending appeal.

Analysis: Two Tribunal decisions had taken diametrically opposite views on the same question. In such a situation, the legal position was treated as unsettled until resolved by a Larger Bench. The assessee was therefore entitled to the benefit of that unsettled state of law at the stage of consideration of deposit.

Conclusion: The assessee was not required to make the deposit, and the matter was to be decided in appeal without insisting on pre-deposit.

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