Pre-deposit waiver in Central Excise appeals may fail where provisional assessment is unproven and duty short-payment was not promptly corrected.

Waiver of pre-deposit in a Central Excise appeal was considered against a demand for differential duty and penalties. Prior payment of duty did not justify full dispensation where the short payment had earlier been pointed out and corrective action was delayed. The plea of provisional assessment also failed because the record did not establish a proper request or a completed provisional assessment mechanism. In these circumstances, no basis was found to waive the statutory deposit requirement in full, and partial deposit was directed as a condition for hearing the appeal.

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Issues: Whether waiver of pre-deposit could be granted in an appeal involving demand of differential duty and penalties, and whether the plea of provisional assessment or prior payment of duty warranted dispensation of deposit.

Analysis: The application arose from a demand of differential duty and penalties under the Central Excise law. The plea that penalty was unwarranted because duty had already been paid was not accepted, as the short payment had been pointed out earlier but corrective action was delayed. The plea that the assessments were provisional was also not accepted for purposes of waiver, since the materials did not establish a proper request or a completed provisional assessment mechanism. In these circumstances, the Tribunal found no basis to dispense with the statutory pre-deposit requirement in full.

Conclusion: The request for complete waiver was rejected and the applicant was directed to deposit Rs. 5 lakhs as a condition for hearing of the appeal.

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