Appellate Authority cannot Enhance Penalty: Punjab Excise Act, 1914

Section 14 of the Punjab Excise Act, 1914 does not confer a power upon the appellate authority to pass an order more burdensome than the order appealed against. It does not entitle the appellate authority to enhance the penalty. Our attention was not invited to any other provision of the Act that indicated such a power either. Absent a power to the contrary conferred by a statute, an appellate authority cannot grant a relief in favour of the respondent. It can either confirm the order appealed against or set it aside. It can also modify the order, but not to the further detriment of the appell...