Statutory pre-deposit requirement bars maintainability of appeals where the penalty deposit condition is not complied with.

Non-compliance with a statutory pre-deposit condition for maintaining an appeal under section 52(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 rendered the appeals not maintainable. The Tribunal treated the provision as plain and unambiguous, held that it could not dilute the deposit requirement on equitable grounds, and found no basis to excuse the default. As the appellant failed to deposit the required 10% in each appeal despite prior dispensation of the balance, all appeals were dismissed and the penalty orders remained undisturbed.

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Issues: Whether the appeals were maintainable despite failure to comply with the pre-deposit order under section 52(2) of the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973.

Analysis: The appeals were filed against penalty orders under the Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973. The appellant had earlier been granted dispensation of 90 per cent of the penalty amount, with a direction to deposit 10 per cent in each appeal, but the direction was not complied with. The statutory language of section 52(2) was treated as plain and unambiguous, and the Tribunal held that it had no authority to rewrite the provision or dilute the deposit requirement on equitable considerations. In the absence of compliance, the appellant was found not to have shown bona fides and no equity was considered to lie in his favour.

Conclusion: The appeals were not maintainable for non-compliance with the pre-deposit condition and were dismissed.

Final Conclusion: Failure to satisfy the statutory pre-deposit condition under section 52(2) resulted in dismissal of all the appeals and left the penalty orders undisturbed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an appellate statute makes deposit of the penalty a condition for maintaining the appeal, non-compliance with that condition renders the appeal liable to dismissal and the tribunal cannot disregard the statutory mandate on equitable grounds.

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