Final appellate determination cannot be reopened in consequential proceedings; later order set aside for lack of jurisdiction.

The Commissioner (Appeals), while hearing an appeal against a consequential order, cannot reopen and nullify an earlier appellate determination that had attained finality and was not challenged by the Department. Once the prior order conclusively settled entitlement to drawback subject to reversal of input tax credit, the authority became functus officio on that issue and lacked statutory basis to revisit the merits under the later proceedings. Judicial discipline required adherence to the binding earlier determination, so the same issue could not be reagitated between the parties. The impugned order was therefore liable to be set aside.

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Issues: Whether the Commissioner (Appeals), while dealing with an appeal against a consequential order, could reopen and nullify an earlier appellate order that had attained finality and had not been challenged by the Department.

Analysis: The earlier appellate order had conclusively determined the petitioner's entitlement to drawback subject to reversal of input tax credit, and the Department had accepted that determination without carrying it further. The subsequent authority, while hearing an appeal against the consequential order, had no statutory basis to revisit the merits already concluded in the earlier round. Once the earlier appellate decision attained finality, the authority became functus officio in relation to that concluded issue, and the later order could not override it in the guise of examining the consequential sanction. The principle of judicial discipline also required adherence to the binding earlier appellate determination, and the same issue could not be reagitated in subsequent proceedings between the parties.

Conclusion: The impugned order could not validly unsettle the earlier final appellate determination and was liable to be set aside.

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