Departmental appeal authorization and provisional assessment finalisation must comply with law; Revenue's challenge failed.

A departmental appeal is not maintainable when the authorisation relied upon was not validly in force at the time of filing; the Revenue's appeal was rejected on that ground. Provisional assessment was also held not to have been finalised in accordance with law because finalisation had to be undertaken by the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner, not the Range Superintendent, and the earlier Tribunal directions were not properly complied with; this issue was decided against the Revenue as well. The appeal and stay applications were therefore rejected.

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Issues: (i) Whether the departmental appeal was maintainable in the absence of a proper authorisation signed in ink before filing. (ii) Whether the provisional assessment had been validly finalised in accordance with law and the tribunal's earlier directions.

Issue (i): Whether the departmental appeal was maintainable in the absence of a proper authorisation signed in ink before filing.

Analysis: The authorisation produced was undated and the record showed that the appeal had already been filed earlier. On that basis, the authorisation could not be treated as validly existing at the time of filing. The appeal by the Revenue was therefore not supported by proper authority.

Conclusion: The appeal was not legally maintainable and the issue was decided against the Revenue.

Issue (ii): Whether the provisional assessment had been validly finalised in accordance with law and the tribunal's earlier directions.

Analysis: The report relied upon by the Revenue showed action by the Range Superintendent, but finalisation of provisional assessment was required to be undertaken by the jurisdictional Assistant Commissioner. Action by the Superintendent was held to be without legal authority under Rule 9B(5) of the Central Excise Rules, 1944. The earlier directions of the Tribunal were also not properly complied with.

Conclusion: The provisional assessment was not validly finalised, and this issue was also decided against the Revenue.

Final Conclusion: The appeal and the stay applications were rejected because the departmental appeal lacked valid authorisation and the claimed finalisation of provisional assessment was not in accordance with law.

Ratio Decidendi: A departmental appeal is not maintainable without a valid authorisation existing at the time of filing, and provisional assessment can be finalised only by the competent authority in the manner prescribed by the rules.

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