TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1992 (12) TMI 117
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ove-captioned appeals are filed by the appellants before this Tribunal. The orders in these cases were signed by the concerned Additional Collectors before 14-5-1992 but the orders were communicated to the respective appellants after 14-5-1992. The appellants have filed these appeals before the Tribunal on the ground that the orders though they were communicated after the Finance Bill received the assent of the President on 14-5-1992 were actually passed prior to the date 14-5-1992. It was the case of the appellants that in view of Section 115 of the Finance Act, 1992 which mentioned the removal of doubts, the provisions of Chapter XV of the Customs Act,1962, shall continue to apply in so far as they relate to any decision or order passed b....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....Tribunal. It was contended that the wording used is "to any decision or order passed by the Additional Collector of Customs immediately before the date." In that view of the matter, he urged before us that the date of passing the order, is the date on which the same was signed and not the date on which it was communicated to the appellants. He also drew our attention to Section 128 of the Customs Act. It was contended that under Section 128 of the Customs Act, any person aggrieved by any decision or order passed under the Customs Act by an officer lower in rank than a Collector of Customs, may appeal to the Collector (Appeals). Section 128A of the Customs Act is only procedural. Therefore, the date of communication of the order becomes rele....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....ases the date of communication of the order was after 14-5-1992, and in view of the Finance Act, 1992, all the appeals from the orders passed by the Additional Collectors are to be filed before the Collector (Appeals). Shri Mondal, the ld. SDR also stated that the right of appeal is a statutory right and this is to be exercised within a specified period from the date of the order. That being the position, the right accrues only when the order is communicated to the person affected and the law as on that date has to be applied in filing the appeals. He also stated that the limitation specified in filing the appeal is not a procedural matter but it is a substantive right. It was therefore urged before us that in all these appeals since the da....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....the order and the petitioners can make no grievance about the same. In our judgment, the submission is totally untenable. Mr. Kullarwar the Assistant Collector of Central Excise was holding the office on December 31, 1979 and has passed a valid order duly signed after hearing the petitioner in pursuance of the show cause notice. Merely because on retirement of Mr. Kullarwar, his successor takes a view that the order passed by Mr. Kullarwar is not correct, is no ground to claim that the order of Mr. Kullarwar has no force of law till it is communicated to the petitioners. The communication of the order passed by Mr. Kullarwar is merely an administrative act and the failure of the respondents to inform passing of such order would not take awa....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e Bill, 1992 receives the assent of the President." A perusal of this section clearly shows that the doubt is clarified in the matter, by stating that the provisions of Chapter XV shall continue to apply in so far as they relate to any decision or order passed by an Additional Collector of Customs immediately before the date on which the Finance Bill, 1992 receives the assent of the President. The date of passing the order is the date on which it is signed. The date of communication of the order will be at a later date. It is abundantly clear that any order passed before the date of 14-5-1992 is to be appealed before the Tribunal, in view of the above section enacted in the Finance Bill, 1992. 10. The decision of the Supreme Cou....
X X X X Extracts X X X X
X X X X Extracts X X X X
....e. In that case the Supreme Court was dealing with a contempt matter. It was held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court that it would be dangerous to found an action for contempt, for the views expressed in the notes file, on the discovery of unpleasant or unsavoury notes, on a perusal of the notes file by the court after getting them summoned. To rely upon the notings in the file for the purpose of initiating contempt would be to put the functioning of the Government out of gear. In our view this case has no relevance to the facts of this case. 13. The arguments of the learned SDR Shri Mondal that the date of order is deemed to be the date when it was made known to the affected party cannot be accepted by us. As an example, we may illustrate the....