The Commissioner vs. M/S Centum Electronics LTD

Held

The Court held that the appeal filed by the Revenue was not maintainable due to the tax effect involved being less than the prescribed monetary limit of Rs.50,00,000/- for appeals before the High Courts, as per the instructions dated 11.07.2018 issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs. The Court noted that the appellant-Revenue themselves submitted that the present case did not fall under the exception category of the notification dated 17.08.2011. Consequently, the Court allowed the appeal to be dismissed as withdrawn/not pressed. No costs were awarded. The operative direction was to dismiss the appeal as withdrawn/not pressed.

Facts

The Commissioner of Central Excise, Bangalore-IV Commissionerate, filed a Central Excise Appeal (C.E.A.No.17/2017) against M/s. Centum Electronics Ltd. before the High Court of Karnataka. The appeal was filed under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, seeking to set aside the Final Order No.21061/2016 dated 02/11/2016 passed by the CESTAT, South Zonal Bench, Bengaluru. On 11.07.2018, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs issued instructions to withdraw pending appeals where the monetary limit was below a certain threshold. The appellant-Revenue submitted that the present appeal was not maintainable due to the tax effect being less than the revised monetary limit of Rs.50,00,000/- for High Court appeals, and it did not fall under any exception.

Key Issues

1. Whether the present appeal filed by the Revenue is maintainable before the High Court, given the revised monetary limits for filing appeals as per the instructions dated 11.07.2018 issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs? 2. Whether the tax effect involved in the present case is below the prescribed monetary limit of Rs.50,00,000/- for High Court appeals, thereby rendering the appeal not maintainable? Contentions of the Appellant (Revenue): The Revenue argued that the appeal is not maintainable because the tax effect involved is less than the prescribed monetary limit of Rs.50,00,000/- for High Court appeals, as per the instructions dated 11.07.2018. They further contended that the case does not fall under any exception category mentioned in the notification dated 17.08.2011, which was referred to in the instructions. Therefore, the appeal should be permitted to be dismissed as withdrawn or not pressed. Contentions of the Respondent (Assessee): The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the respondent-assessee.