When any duty payment is confirmed by the central excise adjudicating authority mandatory penalty is also imposed and interest under Sec.11AA is also ordered to be paid from the date of the order. But when the assessee obtains stay order and files an appeal and the appeal is kept pending for more than ten years irrespective of the assessee’s request to decide the appeal early. . After the period of ten or more years when the appeal is decided rejecting the appeal the assessee is asked to pay interest from the date of original order to the date of actual date of payment i.e. the assessee is asked to pay interest for the period the appeal is kept pending, Thus the assessee is penalized in addition to the original penalty. This is injustice, The period of pendency of the appeal should be excluded for the purpose of charging interest under Section 11AA of the Central Excise Act 1944, The Act has to be amended by the Govt,
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