Setting aside lower orders is not dismissal of an appeal; it amounts to partial allowance under appellate powers.

Where an appellate tribunal sets aside the impugned orders, the disposal is not properly described as dismissal of the appeals. The operative relief falls within the appellate powers of confirmation, modification, annulment or remand under Section 35C(1) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944, and setting aside the lower orders leaves them without effect. The commentary states that the appeals were therefore partly allowed to that extent, with the matter proceeding further in accordance with the point of difference. No substantive finding on excisability or classification was accepted; only the lower authority orders were annulled.

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Issues: Whether, after setting aside the orders of the Appellate Collector and the Assistant Collector, the appeals could also be treated as dismissed, or whether the proper disposal was partial allowance.

Analysis: The operative part of the original bench's agreed decision was that the lower orders were to be set aside. Such a result could not consistently be described as dismissal of the appeals, because setting aside those orders removed the determinations under challenge and left the matter to proceed afresh. Section 35C(1) of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 contemplated confirmation, modification, annulment, or remand, and the agreed substantive relief fit within that framework. The decision on merits of excisability or classification was not accepted; only the lower orders were annulled.

Conclusion: The appeals were partly allowed, not dismissed, and the point of difference was answered in favour of the appellants to that extent.

Final Conclusion: The common result was setting aside the lower authority orders and treating the appeals as allowed only to that extent, with the matter going back for further orders in accordance with the opinion on the point of difference.

Ratio Decidendi: Where an appellate tribunal sets aside the impugned orders, the appeal is not properly characterised as dismissed merely because no final substantive relief on the underlying dispute is granted.

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