Statutory appeal rights under FEMA do not extend to an informer, who lacks entitlement to the adjudication order.

Under the Foreign Exchange Management Act framework, an adjudication complaint may proceed only on a complaint by an officer authorised by the Central Government, and the adjudication order must be supplied free of charge only to the person against whom it is made. On that statutory scheme, appellate rights are confined to a person aggrieved in the legal sense, and an informer does not acquire complainant status or appellate locus merely by setting the process in motion. References to the Evidence Act did not displace this position. Accordingly, an informer has no statutory entitlement to a copy of the adjudication order or to be treated as an aggrieved person for appeal.

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Issues: Whether an informer who set the adjudicatory process in motion is entitled to obtain a copy of the adjudication order and to be treated as a complainant or an aggrieved person for the purpose of appeal.

Analysis: Under Section 16(3) of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999, the enquiry can proceed only on a complaint by an officer authorised by the Central Government. Rule 4(11) of the Foreign Exchange Management (Adjudication Proceedings and Appeal) Rules, 2000 provides supply of the adjudication order free of charge to the person against whom the order is made. Section 17 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 therefore confines the right of appeal to a person aggrieved in the statutory sense. The reference to Sections 74, 75 and 76 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 did not alter the statutory scheme governing supply of the adjudication order.

Conclusion: An informer is not a complainant or a person aggrieved under the statutory framework and is not entitled, as of right, to a copy of the adjudication order.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the statute restricts adjudication complaints to authorised officers and provides supply of the order only to the person against whom it is made, an informer has no statutory entitlement to the order or appellate locus as an aggrieved person.

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