Maintainability of appeals under Section 129A of the Customs Act: regulation cannot confer Tribunal jurisdiction; appeal rejected as nonmaintainable.

Appeals from orders issued by an Assistant Commissioner or Deputy Commissioner under the Customs Act must proceed to the Commissioner (Appeals); a regulation attempting to channel such appeals to the Appellate Tribunal cannot displace the statutory route. Applying the statutory scheme under Section 129A, the Tribunal concluded it lacks jurisdiction to entertain an appeal against orders of those officers and rejected the appeal as not maintainable. The statutory bar on entertaining such appeals is dispositive of the matter, preventing the Tribunal from granting relief on the merits.

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Issues: Whether the appeal filed against the Assistant Commissioner's order dated 18.03.2024 is maintainable before the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal in view of Section 129A of the Customs Act, 1962 and Regulation 14 of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment (Amendment) Regulations, 2020.

Analysis: The Tribunal examined Section 129A of the Customs Act, 1962 which prescribes the classes of orders that may be appealed to the Appellate Tribunal and specifies that orders passed by an Assistant Commissioner/Deputy Commissioner are to be appealed to the Commissioner (Appeals). Regulation 14 of the Sea Cargo Manifest and Transhipment (Amendment) Regulations, 2020 permitting appeals to the Tribunal was considered but found incapable of overriding the statutory scheme under Section 129A which governs the forum for appeals against orders of the Assistant Commissioner.

Conclusion: The appeal is not maintainable before the Appellate Tribunal; the appeal is rejected on the ground of maintainability and the decision is in favour of the Revenue.

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