Judgment:
1. Vide Order No. C-II/WZB/2001 the present applicants were directed to deposit an amount of Rs. 9,74,643/-. In the proceedings leading to this appeal duty of Rs. 23,24,643/-had been demanded and confirmed on account of the failure of the importers to comply with the conditions of the notification under wich exemption from duty had been grantd. The sum directed by the Tribunal to be dposited was the remainder after encashment of the bank guarantee. In making this order the Tribunal had considered the merits and had specifically mentioned that there was no evidnence whatsoever to support the plea of financial hardship. Time was given up to 14.2.2001 to fulfil the directions. The presents. The Present application states that further sum of Rs.90,000/- has been deposited and seeks waiver of predeposit of the remaining amount. On financial hardship an uncertified copy of the provisional balance sheet as on 31.12.2000 has been placed on record. Shri Uday Joshi Ld. Counsel submits that the applicatnn is in no position to deposit the remaining amount.
2. When the Tribunal made the iterim order, unsupported financial accounts ending 30.9.2000 were placed before the Tribunal. Looking at the papers filed today we have to reiterate the earlier observation that the plea of financial hardships has not been supported at all. It is true that there are amounts outstanding to the financial corporations but we do not know whether it is due to lack of funds or due to lacks of will.
3. We have increasingly noticed the tendency on part of several appellants to withhold certain points in the initial proceedings such as the. The stay application and then to make modification applications. This procedure may be designed to frustrate the basic requirement of predeposit of the contested sums as a pre-condition to heaing of the appeals. We have taken very severe notice of such attempts in the past. On this ground we are inclined to dismiss the appeal today along with the present application. We give time to applicatns' upto 30.4.2001 to doposit the remainder failing which without further notice, this appeal shall be dismissed.
I whole heartedly agree with the order proposed passed by my Ld.Brother. A word of caution has to be made. This type of preparing the stay petitions and arguing the same in installments is a very bad practice. It waters down the solemnity of verification clause provided for in the application filed for waiver of predeposit which clause among other things provides for existence fo true statements of facts mentioned in the application. If installment wise any application is filed and heard veracity and imprtance of the verification clause may be questioned then it may entail taking action in terms of the provisions of the Indian Penal Code. Therefore I agree with the order proposed by my Ld.brother.