Section 129E of the Customs Act bars entertainment of an appeal...

Section 129E of the Customs Act bars entertainment of an appeal without the statutory pre-deposit, but not its filing or registration. 'Entertain' was held to mean the stage when the appellate authority applies its judicial mind, so filing and numbering are ministerial acts and an appeal may be registered as a defective proceeding even without proof of deposit; the pre-deposit objection is then decided at the entertainment stage by the Commissioner (Appeals). The High Court also held that its Article 226 jurisdiction to dispense with pre-deposit survives in an appropriate case, though no waiver was granted here because the appeals had not yet been registered.