2024 (5) TMI 141

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....heets of those hearings are as below : - (i) 17.11.2023 Adjourned on the request of the learned counsel for the appellant to 10.01.2024 (ii) 10.01.2024 Adjourned on the written request of the learned counsel to 26.02.2024 (iii) 26.02.2024 Adjourned on the request of the learned counsel for the appellant to 5.4.2024 2. Shri Anoop Singh, learned Joint Commissioner (AR) appeared on behalf of the Revenue. He has stated that as per Section 35C of the Central Excise Act, 1944, no adjournment shall be granted for more than three times to a party during the hearing of the appeals. He further stated that as per Rule 20 of CESTAT (Procedure) Rules, 1982, if the appellant does not appear on the date fixed for hearing, the....

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.... the matter, would also be contrary to public interest. We would also like to remind counsel that it is their professional responsibility to appear and represent their clients on the given dates irrespective of their repeated personal inconvenience. Members of the Bar have a bounden duty to assist the Tribunal in a timely manner. 4. We have gone through the appeal and find that this is a case where a refund claim was filed for an amount paid as Additional Duty of Customs. On scrutiny of the claim the department found that the description and specifications of the goods in the sales invoices were different from that of the Bill of Entry. The goods were liable for rejection for non-fulfillment of the condition of the notification no 102/20....

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....where the Judges are little proactive and refuse to accede to the requests of unnecessary adjournments, the litigants deploy all sorts of methods in protracting the litigation. It is not surprising that civil disputes drag on and on. The misplaced sympathy and indulgence by the appellate and revisional courts compound the malady further. The case in hand is a case of such misplaced sympathy. It is high time that courts become sensitive to delays in justice delivery system and realise that adjournments do dent the efficacy of the judicial process and if this menace is not controlled adequately, the litigant public may lose faith in the system sooner than later. The courts, particularly trial courts, must ensure that on every date of hearing,....