Separate appeal requirement barred Tribunal challenge to a penalty order where no independent appeal was filed first.

An aggrieved person must file a separate appeal before the first appellate authority against an adjudication order imposing penalty; absent such an appeal, the order attains finality and cannot be challenged for the first time before the Tribunal. On the record, only the company had appealed before the Commissioner (Appeals), while the penalised appellant had not filed any independent appeal, and the claim that the earlier filing was composite was not accepted. The penalty challenge was therefore held not maintainable and was not entertained.

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Issues: Whether the appeal was maintainable before the Tribunal when the appellant had not filed a separate appeal before the first appellate authority against the adjudication order imposing penalty.

Analysis: The appeal record showed that only the company had preferred an appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) and the present appellant, though separately penalised, had not filed any independent appeal. Under Section 35 of the Central Excise Act, 1944, an aggrieved person must prefer an appeal before the appellate authority. In the absence of such an appeal, the adjudication order attains finality and cannot be challenged for the first time before the Tribunal. The contention that the earlier appeal was a composite appeal was not accepted on the record.

Conclusion: The appeal was not maintainable and the challenge to the penalty order could not be entertained.

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