High Court affirms CESTAT's duty pre-deposit ruling for cement company, stresses tribunal's discretion.

The High Court upheld the CESTAT's decision to partially waive the pre-deposit of duty demanded from a cement manufacturing company for allegedly ineligible Cenvat credit on certain items. The Court emphasized the Tribunal's discretionary power in such matters and found no arbitrariness in its decision. The Court extended the time for pre-deposit by four weeks but dismissed the writ petition as the petitioner failed to demonstrate financial hardship warranting a total waiver of duty.

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Issues: Whether the High Court should interfere under Article 226 with the Tribunal's order granting only partial waiver of pre-deposit and directing deposit of 50% of the duty demand.

Analysis: The Tribunal's power to waive pre-deposit is discretionary and interference in writ jurisdiction is warranted only where that discretion is shown to have been exercised arbitrarily. The Tribunal had considered the nature of the disputed items and had reached a prima facie view that some of them did not qualify as capital goods or parts of capital goods. The petitioner had not demonstrated any financial hardship to justify complete waiver, and the Tribunal's direction reflected a prima facie assessment relevant to the stage of pre-deposit.

Conclusion: No ground was made out for interference with the Tribunal's partial waiver order; the challenge failed.

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