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Judgment
After rejecting all the stay petitions filed by the Revenue, we proceed to decide the appeals also inasmuch as, a short issue is involved.
The Commissioner (Appeals) has disposed of the appeals filed before him by observing as under:-
“The relevant assessing officer at ICD, Tughlakabad, New Delhi, is directed to disclose the grounds of denial of benefit of Notification No.1/2011-
CEx dated 01.03.2011 and issue a speaking order under the provisions of Section 17 of the Customs Act, 1962 after providing fair opportunity of being
heard to the Appellant in the interest of Principles of Natural Justice and under the legal provisions of the Customs Act, 1962. In the event of failure to
issue a speaking order, within 15 days of receipt of this order, the appellant can seek consequential relief by way of refund as per law.
Revenue is aggrieved with the fact that apart from remanding the matter, the Commissioner (Appeals) has directed that in case of non-decision
within 15 days, relief would be given to the appellant by way of refund. The Revenue’s grievance that the said order of the Commissioner
(Appeals) is an appealable order for which a period of 3 months is granted under the law. As such, it was not fair for the Appellate Authority to give
directions to grant refund in case the matter is not decided within 15 days.
We find that an identical issue was the subject matter of the Tribunal’s decision in the case of M/s. Artex Textile Pvt. Ltd., vide which it was
held as under:-
“After hearing both sides, we found that the order of Commissioner (Appeals) is self contradictory. On the one hand he has remanded the matter
and on the other hand, he has held that if the remanded matter is not decided within 15 days, the appeals would stand automatically allowed.
Admittedly, Commissioner (Appeals) could have fixed the time limit for the de-novo adjudication but it was not proper on his part to hold that though
the matter is being remanded, the appeals would be allowed in case of non-decision by the adjudicating authority within a period of 15 days. Such type
of order cannot be upheld. Accordingly, we allow the Revenue’s appeal by deleting the last line of the impugned order.â€
By following the above decision, we allow the Revenue’s appeal by expunging the last line of the order. All the stay petitions as also appeals
are disposed of in above manner.