Vakalatnama requirement for Tribunal appearances applies to non-Senior Advocates; Tribunal procedure overrides general practice rights.

A legal practitioner who is not a Senior Advocate must comply with the Tribunal's procedural rules for appearance: under Rule 13 of the CESTAT (Procedure) Rules, the document authorising the advocate must be appended to the memorandum of appeal, and for an advocate this requires a duly executed vakalatnama. Section 146A of the Customs Act permits appearance through an authorised representative, but it does not override the Tribunal's own procedure. The general right of advocates to practise under the Advocates Act does not dispense with this authorisation requirement, and the limited exemption for Senior Advocates under the Supreme Court Rules does not extend to other advocates. Order III Rule 5 CPC was held inapplicable to Tribunal appearances.

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Issues: Whether a legal practitioner who is not a Senior Advocate can appear and argue before the Tribunal without filing a vakalatnama, and whether the Tribunal's procedural rules require such authorisation to be appended to the memorandum of appeal.

Analysis: Section 146A of the Customs Act, 1962 permits appearance through an authorised representative, but the manner of such appearance is governed by Rule 13 of the CESTAT (Procedure) Rules, 1982, which requires the document authorising a legal practitioner to be appended to the memorandum of appeal and, in the case of an advocate, to be a duly executed vakalatnama. The right of advocates to practise under the Advocates Act, 1961 does not dispense with compliance with the Tribunal's own procedure. The exemption recognised for Senior Advocates arises from the Supreme Court Rules, which prohibit such advocates from filing vakalatnamas, but that protection does not extend to other advocates. Order III Rule 5 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 does not govern the Tribunal's appearance procedure, and the relevant Tribunal rule prevails for appearances before it.

Conclusion: A legal practitioner who is not a Senior Advocate must file a vakalatnama to appear and argue before the Tribunal, and without it he is not authorised to represent the appellant-company; the ruling is against the assessee.

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