Tribunal review power limits bar recall of stay orders absent statutory authority; unauthorized application rejected as not maintainable.

An application to vacate an earlier stay order was held not maintainable because it was filed by an Assistant Collector without any shown legal authority to seek that relief on behalf of the respondent Collector of Central Excise. The Tribunal treated the request as a substantive attempt to review its own stay order and held that it had no power to sit in appeal over or recall its order on merits absent statutory authority. Reliance on a Supreme Court decision was also unavailing because that decision predated the stay order. The application was rejected.

---

---

Issues: Whether the application to vacate the earlier stay order was maintainable and whether the Tribunal could review or recall its own order on merits.

Analysis: The application had been moved by an Assistant Collector, although the appeal respondent was the Collector of Central Excise, and no provision of law was shown authorising such officer to seek the relief. The request was in substance for a review of the earlier stay order. The Tribunal held that it had no power to sit in appeal over its own order on merits or to review it in the absence of statutory authority. It also noted that the Supreme Court decision relied upon by the Department had been rendered before the stay order was passed, so the matter did not warrant recall on that basis.

Conclusion: The application was not maintainable and was rejected.

---