The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) is an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

quasi-judicial A quasi-judicial body is non-judicial body which can interpret law. It is an entity such as an Arbitration, arbitration panel or tribunal, tribunal board, that can be a public administrative agency but also a contract- or private law en ...

body that hears appeals against orders and decisions passed under the Customs Act, 1962 and Central Excise Act, 1944 as amended from time to time. It was constituted as ''Customs, Excise and Gold (Control) Appellate Tribunal'' (CEGAT) under section 129 of Customs Act, 1962, as amended by section 50 and the Fifth Schedule of Finance (No. 2) Act, 1980. These amendments became effective from 11 October 1982 and the Tribunal was also constituted on the same date. Its initial mandate was under Customs Act, 1962, Central Excise Act, 1944 and Gold (Control) Act, 1968. Service tax was introduced by Chapter V of Finance Act, 1994 and this also was added to the jurisdiction of CEGAT. Accordingly, the name of the Tribunal was changed to ''Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal'' (CESTAT) by amending section 129 of the Customs Act, by section 119 of Finance Act, 2003, effective from 14 May 2003. The

Tribunal A tribunal, generally, is any person or institution with authority to judge, adjudicate on, or determine claims or disputes—whether or not it is called a tribunal in its title. For example, an advocate who appears before a court with a single ...

also has

appellate jurisdiction A court of appeals, also called a court of appeal, appellate court, appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear an appeal of a trial court or other lower tribunal. In much of t ...

in Anti Dumping matters and the Special Bench headed by the President, CESTAT, hears appeals against the orders passed by the Designated Authority in the Ministry of Commerce. According to Section 86, any assessment order passed by Commissioner of Central Excise under section 73 or Section 83A or orders of revision by Commissioner of Central Excise under Section 84 or orders of the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) under Section 85 are appealable before the Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) by any of the aggrieved parties i.e., assessee, Commissioner of Central Excise or the Board. The Government had a law enacted in 1986, to create a Tribunal empowered like a High Court, called ''Customs and Excise Revenues Appellate Tribunal''. Most powers of CESTAT were to be diverted to CERAT. This Act was not operationalised due to multiple difficulties including court cases, making an amendment necessary. This Act was later repealed by Customs and Central Excise Laws (Repeal) Act, 2004.Customs and Central Excise Laws (Repeal) Act, 2004
''The Gazette of India'', see the Schedule

Powers

CESTAT functions with the following limitations, as it cannot: * Grant compensation owing to unlawful action of revenue authorities. * Review its own order (as any quasi-judicial authority cannot review its own order). * Exercise powers beyond

statute A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

(as it is a creature of statute only). * Issue writs or grant relief which ought to be granted by high court. * Comment on legitimacy of statute. Must presume legal validity of the provisions of Act and Rules. * Punish for its own contempt (must forward it to high court for its consideration). * Act as a court (as it is a tribunal and cannot be equated to a court. Members of tribunal are not judges and their decisions are orders, not judgments). * Overrule any high court judgement (as it is bound by judgements of high courts and

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

References

External links

Official website of the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal
{{authority control Central Civil Services (India) Government agencies of India Ministry of Finance (India) Custom and excise duties in India Indian Tribunals 1962 establishments in India