Pendency of waiver and stay application bars coercive recovery of disputed excise demand until the appeal is decided.

Pending appeal proceedings before the Commissioner (Appeals), together with an unresolved application for waiver of pre-deposit and stay, were treated as sufficient to prevent coercive recovery of the disputed central excise demand. Following earlier Division Bench guidance, the department was not permitted to recover the amount covered by the appealed order until that application was decided. Recovery was therefore restrained in favour of the assessee until disposal of the pending request.

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Issues: Whether recovery of the disputed central excise demand could proceed while the appeal and application for waiver of pre-deposit and stay of recovery were pending before the Commissioner (Appeals).

Analysis: The petitioner's appeal before the Commissioner (Appeals) and the application seeking exemption from deposit were already pending. The Court followed the earlier Division Bench view that, until such application is decided, the department should not recover the amount covered by the appealed order. The pendency of the stay or waiver application was treated as sufficient to protect the assessee from coercive recovery.

Conclusion: Recovery of the disputed amount was restrained until disposal of the pending application before the Commissioner (Appeals), in favour of the assessee.

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