HC cannot permit Waiver of Pre-Deposit under section 35F

Santhosh Kumar K The Commissioner (Kerala High Court) A perusal of the statutory provisions will reveal that the amendment to section 35F of the Central Excise Act r/w Section 86 of the Finance Act, 1994, clearly manifest the intention of the legislature that the waiver of pre-deposit, which was being resorted to, quite often by the courts of law, needed to be amended to make the pre-deposit mandatory. Thus, after the Amendment Act came into force, no discretion is available with the courts of law to waive the mandatory requirement of pre-deposit of 7.5% even if it is assumbed to be onerous in...