Case Law Details
Devinder Singh Narang Vs Commissioner of Customs (CESTAT Chandigarh)
On behalf of Revenue it has been submitted that despite the extension of time granted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, the Appellant failed to comply with the order of pre-deposit of Rs.50 lacs. We have seen the case records and find that time and again the appellant has been directed to make pre-deposit but till now he has not complied with the directions. We deplore this conduct of the appellant. Firstly Hon’ble High Court and thereafter Hon’ble Supreme Court have confirmed the order of this Tribunal regarding the pre-deposit of amount of Rs.50 lacs but despite that since last 11 years the appellant deliberately did not deposit the amount.
When a person has no respect for the order of the highest Court of the land then what to talk of the Tribunal. Such persons don’t deserve any leniency. The intentions of the appellant were very clear since the very first day when this Tribunal has passed the order of pre-deposit on 03.06.2011. He made so many unsuccessful attempts not to comply with the order of pre-deposit and went upto Hon’ble Supreme Court and when the Hon’ble Supreme Court was not inclined to disturb the order of the Tribunal then the Appellant prayed for extension of time for pre-deposit which was granted by the Hon’ble Supreme Court and time was extended upto 31.10.2013, while dismissing his SLP. But despite that he has not made the pre-deposit till date and more than 11 years have gone by from the date of the order of Tribunal.
From the facts of the case as we can see from the case records, it is clear that the appellant is deliberately not depositing the amount of Rs.50 lacs despite getting extension of time to deposit from the Hon’ble Supreme Court. We are also aware of the fact that initially this Tribunal while ordering for pre-deposit in the year 2011 had specifically observed that non-deposit of the amount would result in automatic dismissal of the appeals without any further notice to the appellants but still so many opportunities were granted to the appellant to deposit the amount but of no avail. Such a contumacious conduct of the appellant cannot be tolerated.
Therefore in the facts of the instant case we have left with no other option but to dismiss the Appeal filed by the Appellant for non-compliance of the order of this Tribunal as affirmed by the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Appeal is accordingly dismissed.
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