Finality of unchallenged orders bars reopening of trade discount claims; unpressed countervailing duty issues do not survive.

A claim for exclusion of a 3% trade discount could not be reopened before the Tribunal because the Appellate Collector had already rejected that claim and no appeal was filed against that order. The earlier rejection had attained finality, so the Tribunal had no jurisdictional basis to reassess the duty issue in the later proceeding. The countervailing duty contention was also not pursued by the appellants, and therefore no live dispute remained for adjudication on that point.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal could entertain the claim for exclusion of 3% trade discount and reassessment of duty when no appeal lay against the order rejecting that claim, and the appellants had not pressed the countervailing duty issue.

Analysis: The dispute regarding deduction of the 3% discount had already been decided by the Assistant Collector and carried in appeal before the Appellate Collector, who rejected the claim. In the absence of any appeal against that order, the Tribunal had no occasion to reopen the question in the present proceeding. The countervailing duty issue was not pursued by the appellants and was therefore not pressed for adjudication.

Conclusion: The Tribunal held that the discount claim could not be examined in the present proceedings and that there was no surviving challenge on countervailing duty.

Ratio Decidendi: A claim that has already been finally rejected in an unchallenged order cannot be reopened in a later proceeding before the Tribunal, and issues not pressed by the appellant do not survive for adjudication.

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