TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
1983 (11) TMI 309
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....cence. 2. The brief facts are :- The appellants Smt. Ashibai C. Oswal is the Proprietress of M/s. Bhagji Devaji & Co. Till the year 1963, her husband was the Proprietor and he held a gold dealers licence. Subsequent to the death of her husband, the appellant held the gold dealers licence. On 18th February, the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Pune called upon the appellant to show cause why her gold dealers licence application for the year 1982 should not be rejected. The appellant sent a reply dated 27-2-1982. She contended inter alia that the Assistant Collector has no competence to consider the renewal application. Thereafter the Assistant Collector informed the appellant to make her submissions to the Additional Collector and ac....
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.... not lie to the Tribunal, Shri Solanki, the learned Advocate for the appellant, relied on the provisions of the Gold Control Act. He particularly relied on the provisions contained in Sections 78, 80 and 81 of the Act and also to the Notification issued by the Government of India under Clause (b) of Section 78. 7. As has been stated earlier, the hearing of the appeal was posted for consideration of a limited question, namely, as to whether an appeal against an order passed by the Additional Collector of Central Excise in exercise of the powers conferred under the Gold Control Act lies to the Appellate Tribunal. In order to answer the above question it is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Act. Section 4 empowers the Central Go....
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....ibunal against such order :- (a) A decision or order passed by the Collector of Central Excise or of Customs as an adjudicating authority; (b) an order passed by the Collector (Appeals) under Section 80A; (c) an order passed by the Administrator, Collector of Central Excise or of Customs or the Appellate Collector of Customs under Section 80, as it stood immediately before the appointed day; (d) an order passed by the Administrator, either before or after the appointed day, under Section 81, as it stood immediately before that day." The rest of the Sections are not relevant for our purpose. 12. Section 2(1) defines Gold Control Officer. It reads : "Gold Control Officer" means a Gold Control Officer appointed under Section 4. 13....
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....rank indicated in col. (2) of the table below to exercise, subject to the limits specified in col. (3) of the said table, the powers of adjudication, confiscation and imposition of penalty conferred by the said Act : TABLE S. No. Rank of Officer Limits of the power (1) (2) (3) 1.  (a) Assistant Collector of Central Excise Where the value of the gold liable to confiscation (whether such gold is available for confiscation or not) does not exceed ₹ 25,000. (b) Assistant Collector of Customs 2.  (a) Deputy Collector of Central Excise (i) Where the value of the gold liable to confiscation (whether such gold is available for confiscation or not) does not exceed ₹ 1,00,000/-; (b) Deputy Collector of Customs ....
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....f Customs and in the amended Notification, the Additional Collector of Central Excise was also included. Now if we are to accept the contention of Shri Krishan Kumar, the learned Junior Departmental Representative, that the Additional Collector of Central Excise is equal in rank to that of the Collector of Central Excise, the necessity for issue of a Notification under Section 78(b) limiting the power of the Additional Collector does not arise. It is significant to note that in the Notification it is specifically stated that the Central Government authorises the Gold Control Officers of the rank indicated in column 2 of the table. In column 2 of the table, the rank of the officers are mentioned. As pointed out earlier, among the officers me....
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....Control Officer and not in his capacity as an Additional Collector of Central Excise. In considering the question whether, as a Gold Control Officer, he is an officer lower in rank than that of a Collector, we have only to look into the provisions of the Gold Control Act and not the provisions of the Central Excise or Customs Act. 16. After careful consideration of all the aspects, we are satisfied that, for the purpose of Gold Control Act, The Additional Collector of Central Excise is an officer lower in rank than that of a Collector of Central Excise and, therefore, the appeal against the order passed by the Additional Collector of Central Excise shall have to be filed before the Collector Appeals under Section 80. Appeal against the ord....