2007 (5) TMI 508 - AT - Central Excise

Summary

Issues:
Maintainability of the appeal filed by the appellant.

Analysis:
The appellant, a Director of a private limited company, received show cause notices for violations of Central Excise Law. The adjudication order held both the company and the director separately liable for the violations and imposed a penalty on the director under Rule 209A of the Central Excise Rules 1944. When the appellant company appealed to the first appellate authority, the director did not file a separate appeal. The appellate authority rejected the argument that it was a joint appeal and upheld the penalty on the director.

The appellant's advocate argued that the appeal before the first appellate authority was a composite appeal for both the company and the director. However, the Tribunal found that the director did not file a separate appeal as required by Section 35 of the Central Excise Act, 1944. The absence of an appeal by the director meant that the adjudication order became final. Therefore, the Tribunal concluded that the director cannot challenge the findings of the impugned order in appeal and dismissed the appeal for being non-maintainable due to the lack of challenge to the adjudication order in the proper forum.

In summary, the Tribunal held that the appeal filed by the appellant director was not maintainable before the Tribunal as he did not prefer a separate appeal before the first appellate authority, as required by the Central Excise Act, 1944. The failure to challenge the adjudication order in the proper forum led to the dismissal of the appeal.