Inherent power to stay excise adjudication is limited and cannot displace normal assessment or interest rules.

The Tribunal stated that its inherent power to stay proceedings before lower authorities exists only in rare cases and cannot be used routinely in a classification dispute. An earlier stay of the appeal before the Tribunal did not amount to a direction for provisional assessment of future clearances, and the department remained free to assess goods in accordance with law. It also held that the statutory interest position could not be bypassed by seeking a stay of adjudication proceedings. On that basis, the request for stay of the Collector's adjudication proceedings was refused and the application was rejected.

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Issues: Whether the Tribunal should exercise its inherent powers to stay adjudication proceedings before the Collector of Central Excise pending the outcome of the classification dispute and related proceedings.

Analysis: The Tribunal held that inherent power to stay proceedings before lower authorities exists only in rare cases and could not be invoked in a routine classification dispute. The earlier stay granted in respect of the appeal before the Tribunal did not amount to a direction for provisional assessment of future clearances, and the department remained free to assess goods in accordance with law. The Tribunal also noted that the provision for interest could not be bypassed by seeking a stay of the lower adjudication proceedings, and distinguished the authorities relied upon by the applicant on the ground that they involved different factual situations or a different legal position.

Conclusion: The request for stay of the adjudication proceedings was refused and the application was rejected, against the assessee.

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