Pre-deposit not required when no confirmed duty or penalty survives after the appellate order and stay application is maintainable.

Where the appellate order had already set aside the original adjudication and no confirmed duty or penalty survived against the applicant, the pre-deposit provision was held not to require payment of the amounts mentioned in the show cause notice. The Tribunal also accepted that it had power to stay operation of the lower authority's order in an appropriate case, so the stay application was maintainable. No pre-deposit was required at that stage because the appellate order had left no quantified duty or penalty outstanding against the applicant.

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Issues: Whether an application for stay of operation of the appellate order was maintainable under the pre-deposit provision, and whether any pre-deposit of duty and penalty was required when no duty or penalty had been confirmed against the applicant.

Analysis: The order under challenge had set aside the original adjudication and allowed the appeals, with the result that no quantified duty or penalty survived against the applicant. In that situation, the provision governing deposit before appeal was held not to require payment of the amounts mentioned in the show cause notice, because there was no confirmed duty or penalty in the appellate order. The Tribunal also recognised its power to stay the operation of the lower authority's order in an appropriate case and treated the stay application as properly entertained.

Conclusion: The stay application was maintainable and no pre-deposit was required at that stage.

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