2006 (8) TMI 326

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....al to Appellate Tribunal "Section 19(1): Save as provided in sub-section (2), the Central Government or any person aggrieved by an order made by an Adjudication Authority, other than those referred to in sub-section (1) of section 17 or the Special Director (Appeals), may prefer an appeal to the appellate Tribunal: Provided that any person appealing against the order of the Adjudicating Authority or the Special Director (Appeals) levying any penalty, shall while filing the Appeal, deposit the amount of such penalty with such authority as may be notified by the Central Government. Provided further that where in any particular case, the Appellate Tribunal is of the opinion that the deposit of such penalty would cause undue hardship t....

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....deposit subject to such conditions as it my deem fit to impose so as to safeguard the realisation of penalty." 2. The principal plea advanced by the learned counsel for the petitioner is that the said provisions are arbitrary, irrational and violative of Article 14 of the Constitution. The brief background in which this plea is raised is that each of the four petitioners as well the firm of which they are partners was issued notices on 4-7-2000 in respect of certain violations of the Act. After receiving their replies, the Assistant Director, Directorate of Enforcement, by an order dated 30-10-2000 found them guilty of the violations and imposed a penalty of Rs. 30,000 on the firm and Rs. 5,000 on each of the four petitioners. He directe....

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....me special service is intended as quid pro quo to the class of citizens which is intended to be benefited by the service and a broad and general correlation between the amount so collected and the expenses incurred in providing the services is found to exist, then such levy would partake the character of a 'fee' irrespective of the fact that such special services for which the amount by levy of fee is collected incidentally and indirectly benefit the general public also. In order to establish the correlation between the amount recovered by way of 'fee' and the expenses incurred in providing the service they should not be examined so minutely or be weighed in golden stale to discern any difference between the two. It is not necessary to asce....