TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (8) TMI 552
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....eal against this order before the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), Custom House, Chennai. The procedures for filing an appeal is also contemplated under the Order-in-Original itself. 3. Instead of preferring an appeal for the redressal of the grievances, the petitioners have chosen to file a writ petition raising several grounds, which are all to be adjudicated based on certain facts and on verification of documents and evidences in original. Even in cases where mixed question of fact and law is raised, the appellate authority, is competent to adjudicate both factual and legal grounds and made a finding and pass orders. The appellate authority is the final fact finding authority. Thus, importance attached to the appellate remedy at no ci....
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....passed by the original authorities under the provisions of the Customs Act, an appeal is contemplated under Sections 128 and 129 of the Customs Act, respectively. Without exhausting the appellate remedy, the writ petitioners have filed these writ petitions, and therefore, the writ petitions are liable to be dismissed. 8.With reference to the appellate remedy, the Hon'ble Division Bench of this Court in W.A.No.640 of 2021 [M/s.Fourceess Diamond Pvt. Ltd. and another v. The Joint Commissioner of Customs (Air Cargo), Meenambakkam, Chennai] delivered a judgment on 25.02.2021 and the relevant paragraphs are extracted hereunder : "8.After elaborately hearing the learned counsel for the appellants and the learned Senior Standing Counsel ap....
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....eference to the documents and evidences to be produced and the scope of the writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot be expanded so as to exercise the powers of the appellate authority in the matter of examination or scrutiny of original documents and evidences produced by the respective parties. The very purpose of the statutory appeal is to scrutinize the orders passed by the original authorities, and therefore, the legislative intention in this regard is to be scrupulously followed in the mater of adjudication of merits with reference to the documents and evidences. 12.In common parlance, Statutes contain appeal provisions. In some of the Statutes, there are two-tier appeal provisions in order to ensure tha....
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.... original documents and evidences produced by the respective parties to the lis. This being the legislative intention, High Court is expected to trust the institutional authorities as well as the hierarchy of institutions contemplated under the Statutes. Institutional respects are of paramount importance for providing complete justice to the parties and the various stages of adjudication are important for the purpose of correcting omissions, commissions, errors in appreciation of evidence, etc. Powers of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution of India cannot be extended nor widened so as to allow lay hands on the facts and circumstances by conducting the trial, nor certain facts and circumstances with reference to documents an....
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....by invoking its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution of India is certainly unwarranted. The parties must be provided an opportunity to approach the appropriate authorities for redressal of their grievances in the manner known to law. In the event of entertaining all such writ petitions, the High Court will not only be over-burdened, but usurping the powers of the appellate authority is certainly not desirable. 16.... 17.... 18.Large number of writ petitions are filed without exhausting the statutory appeal remedies and High Court is also entertaining such writ petitions in a routine manner. Keeping such writ petitions pending for long time would cause prejudice to the interest of the assessee also. Thus, such statutory provisi....