FEMA pre-deposit and finality of proceedings bar repeated challenges after concealment of material facts.

Section 19 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 requires deposit of the penalty amount when an appeal is filed against a penalty order, subject to waiver by the Appellate Tribunal on proof of undue hardship and protective conditions for recovery. The appellants had already exhausted adjudication, pre-deposit proceedings, High Court interference, and a dismissed Special Leave Petition, yet continued to seek review and further appeal. The Court noted concealment of material facts and repeated attempts to reopen matters that had attained finality, and treated the proceedings as an abuse of process, declining any further relief.

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Issues: Whether the appeal against dismissal of the review petition called for interference, and whether the appellants were entitled to further indulgence after the proceedings had already reached finality.

Analysis: The statutory scheme under Section 19 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 requires deposit of the penalty amount when an appeal is filed against an order levying penalty, though the Appellate Tribunal may dispense with such deposit where undue hardship is shown, subject to conditions safeguarding recovery. The appellants had already faced the adjudication order, the Tribunal's earlier orders on pre-deposit, the High Court's earlier interference, and the dismissal of the Special Leave Petition by the Supreme Court. Despite that finality, they continued to pursue successive review and appeal proceedings. The Court found that the appellants had concealed material facts in earlier proceedings and had repeatedly attempted to reopen matters that had attained finality.

Conclusion: The appeal was not entitled to any relief and was dismissed as an abuse of the process of law.

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