Prima facie limitation and penalty stay granted where retrospective price revision did not defeat the time-bar challenge.

A prima facie case for waiver of pre-deposit and stay of penalty recovery was found where the demand appeared time-barred. The valuation dispute concerned goods cleared during the relevant period, while the petroleum price revision took effect retrospectively only later. At the interlocutory stage, the correspondence with the Ministry was not shown to be required disclosure to the excise department. On that material, limitation was a strong prima facie ground, and recovery of the penalty was stayed pending the appeal.

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Issues: Whether the applicants made out a prima facie case for waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery of penalty on the ground that the demand was barred by limitation.

Analysis: The demand related to valuation of the product cleared during the relevant period, but the price revision by the Petroleum Ministry took effect retrospectively only later. The correspondence with the Ministry was not shown to be required for disclosure to the excise department at the interlocutory stage. On this material, a strong prima facie case existed on limitation, and the challenge to the penalty demand deserved protection pending the appeal.

Conclusion: The applicants succeeded in obtaining waiver of pre-deposit of the penalty and stay of recovery pending disposal of the appeal.

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