Deo Sharif Ansari vs. The Union Of INDIA And Anr.

Held

The High Court held that there was no reason to interfere with the interim order passed by the Tribunal. The Tribunal had granted a waiver of pre-deposit on the condition that 10% of the penalty be deposited. Since the appellant failed to comply with this condition, the appeal ought to have been dismissed. However, the Court provided a further opportunity. If the appeal was still pending before the Tribunal and had not been dismissed for non-compliance, the appellant could deposit the amounts within one month from the date of the order, and the appeal would then be considered on its merits. The appeal before the High Court was rejected with this liberty.

Facts

The appellant, Deo Sharif Ansari, was aggrieved by a direction to deposit 10% of the penalties imposed on him within eight weeks. The appellant admittedly failed to make this deposit. The present Miscellaneous Appeal was filed before the Patna High Court. The High Court noted that there was no stay order in the writ petition. The Tribunal had granted a waiver of pre-deposit on the condition of depositing 10% of the penalty. The appeal was filed against this conditional order.

Key Issues

1. Whether the High Court should interfere with the interim order of the Tribunal directing a pre-deposit of 10% of the penalties imposed on the appellant. The appellant argued that they were aggrieved by the direction to deposit 10% of the penalties. The revenue or State did not appear to have made any specific arguments recorded in the judgment regarding the merits of the pre-deposit condition itself, but rather focused on the consequence of non-compliance. The judgment indicates that the Tribunal had entered prima facie satisfaction to permit waiver of pre-deposit, but on the condition of the 10% deposit.