TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2011 (9) TMI 63
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.... in Commissioner of Customs vs. Sayed Ali, 2011 (265) E.L.T. 17 (S.C.), to contend that the Additional Director General, DRI was not a proper Officer within the meaning of Section 2(34) of the Customs Act, 1962 and had no jurisdiction to issue a notice to show cause. The grievance of the Appellant was that though the judgment of the Supreme Court was cited before the Tribunal and was referred to in paragraph 7 of the decision, the Tribunal had not considered the principle of law laid down by the Supreme Court though it ought to have followed a binding precedent of the Supreme Court. Accordingly, the Appellant moved an application for modification of the order of predeposit. Besides adverting to the aforesaid grievance, the Appellant....
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....red in deciding the application for waiver of predeposit without considering the judgments of the Supreme Court in Sayed Ali (supra) and Chandana Impex (supra) and a decision of the Coordinate Bench in the case of Nylex Traders (supra). 3. The appeal is taken up for hearing and final disposal, by consent. 4. As the narration in the earlier part of the judgment would show, when the application for waiver of predeposit came up before the CESTAT, the Appellant specifically relied upon the judgment of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Customs vs. Sayed Ali (supra) in support of the submission that the notice to show cause had not, in the present case, been issued by a proper officer within the meaning of Section 2(34) of the ....
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....ission based on the judgment of the Supreme Court in Sayed Ali's case had been urged before the Tribunal, the Tribunal had not had due regard to the decision of the Supreme Court in Sayed Ali's case. The Appellant also adverted the fact that in a subsequent decision in Chandana Impex (supra), the Supreme Court had remanded the proceedings back to the Tribunal considering the law laid down in Sayed Ali. The Appellant also relied upon a decision of a Coordinate Bench of the Tribunal in the case of Nylex Traders. Despite this, the Tribunal has dismissed the application for modification merely observing that the Department's representative had relied upon a judgment of the Karnataka High Court in Meenakshi Apparels (supra). Whether ....
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....ing. Judges individually in the discharge of their functions are independent adjudicators. But both individually and as constituents of institutions of which we are a part, judges are bound by a sense of judicial discipline. That discipline is rigorous but nothing less than a strict adherence to judicial discipline can be acceptable in the work that judges discharge. Benches of a Tribunal must conform to the discipline that the doctrine of precedent exacts. The respect which independent adjudicators in our country command has been assiduously built up over small incremental steps. Consistency and certainty is an important element in the judicial process. They are foundations of the rule of law. These are not just elements of judicial tradit....