9911796707
TMI Blog1983 (11) TMI 309X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... re :- The appellants Smt. Ashibai C. Oswal is the Proprietress of M/s. Bhagji Devaji Co. Till the year 1963, her husband was the Proprietor and he held a gold dealers licence. Subsequent to the death of her husband, the appellant held the gold dealers licence. On 18th February, the Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Pune called upon the appellant to show cause why her gold dealers licence application for the year 1982 should not be rejected. The appellant sent a reply dated 27-2-1982. She contended inter alia that the Assistant Collector has no competence to consider the renewal application. Thereafter the Assistant Collector informed the appellant to make her submissions to the Additional Collector and accordingly the appellant ma ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ibunal, Shri Solanki, the learned Advocate for the appellant, relied on the provisions of the Gold Control Act. He particularly relied on the provisions contained in Sections 78, 80 and 81 of the Act and also to the Notification issued by the Government of India under Clause (b) of Section 78. 7. As has been stated earlier, the hearing of the appeal was posted for consideration of a limited question, namely, as to whether an appeal against an order passed by the Additional Collector of Central Excise in exercise of the powers conferred under the Gold Control Act lies to the Appellate Tribunal. In order to answer the above question it is necessary to refer to certain provisions of the Act. Section 4 empowers the Central Government to appo ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... bunal against such order :- (a) A decision or order passed by the Collector of Central Excise or of Customs as an adjudicating authority; (b) an order passed by the Collector (Appeals) under Section 80A; (c) an order passed by the Administrator, Collector of Central Excise or of Customs or the Appellate Collector of Customs under Section 80, as it stood immediately before the appointed day; (d) an order passed by the Administrator, either before or after the appointed day, under Section 81, as it stood immediately before that day. The rest of the Sections are not relevant for our purpose. 12. Section 2(1) defines Gold Control Officer. It reads : Gold Control Officer means a Gold Control Officer appointed under Sectio ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ficers of the rank indicated in col. (2) of the table below to exercise, subject to the limits specified in col. (3) of the said table, the powers of adjudication, confiscation and imposition of penalty conferred by the said Act : TABLE S. No. Rank of Officer Limits of the power (1) (2) (3) 1. (a) Assistant Collector of Central Excise Where the value of the gold liable to confiscation (whether such gold is available for confiscation or not) does not exceed ₹ 25,000. (b) Assistant Collector of Customs ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Gold Control Officers they did not enjoy unlimited powers and their limit was left to be specified by the Central Government. In the Notification referred to above, the Central Government specified the limits of other Gold Control Officers. The other Gold Control Officers referred to in the Notification are Assistant Collector of Central Excise, Assistant Collector of Customs, Deputy Collector of Central Excise, Deputy Collector of Customs, Additional Collector of Customs and in the amended Notification, the Additional Collector of Central Excise was also included. Now if we are to accept the contention of Shri Krishan Kumar, the learned Junior Departmental Representative, that the Additional Collector of Central Excise is equal in rank to ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... lector of Central Excise who is conferred with the powers under the Gold Control Act by the Central Government should be considered as an officer equal in the rank of the Collector. It is only by reason of the powers conferred by the Central Government, the Additional Collector of Central Excise gets power to enforce the provisions of the Gold Control Act. While exercising the powers and discharging the functions under the Gold Control Act, he functions as a Gold Control Officer and not in his capacity as an Additional Collector of Central Excise. In considering the question whether, as a Gold Control Officer, he is an officer lower in rank than that of a Collector, we have only to look into the provisions of the Gold Control Act and not th ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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