Statutory pre-deposit cannot be bypassed through writ jurisdiction or met by adjusting another person's duty payment.

A statutory appellate remedy cannot be bypassed by invoking writ jurisdiction to avoid the mandatory pre-deposit condition attached to an appeal before CESTAT. Once the assessee elects the statutory appeal route, failure to comply with that condition does not create any fresh basis to seek relaxation through writ proceedings, especially where no change in circumstances is shown. The document also states that, absent statutory authority, one person's duty payment cannot be appropriated or adjusted against another person's separate pre-deposit obligation. Writ jurisdiction cannot be used indirectly to secure relief that the statute does not permit directly.

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Issues: Whether the petitioner could invoke writ jurisdiction to bypass the statutory pre-deposit requirement for filing and maintaining the appeal before CESTAT, or seek adjustment of another party's duty payment against the petitioner's own pre-deposit obligation.

Analysis: The petitioner's earlier attempt to avoid the statutory appellate route had already been rejected on the footing that an appeal is a creature of statute and the conditions attached to that remedy must be complied with. After the petitioner chose the appellate remedy, failure to satisfy the pre-deposit condition resulted in dismissal of the appeal, which did not create any fresh right to return to the writ court for relaxation of that statutory requirement. The Court also held that there was no change in circumstances justifying a different approach, and no statutory basis permitting one person's duty payment to be appropriated or adjusted against another person's separate pre-deposit obligation. The writ jurisdiction could not be used indirectly to do what had earlier been refused directly.

Conclusion: The request to entertain the writ petition and to relax or adjust the pre-deposit requirement was rejected, and the petition was not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A statutory pre-deposit condition for an appellate remedy cannot be bypassed through writ jurisdiction, and payments made by one liable person cannot be adjusted against another person's independent pre-deposit obligation in the absence of statutory authority.

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