JUDGMENT

The petitioner has approached this Court being aggrieved by Ext.P5 order of the First Appellate Authority (order in Appeal No.COC-.EXCUS-000-APP-662-2023 dated 17-10-2023).

2. Sri. Anil D. Nair, the learned Senior Counsel appearing for the petitioner on the instructions of Adv. Telma Raju, would submit that Ext.P5 order is liable to be set aside on one short ground. He submits that though orders of the Customs Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Delhi, and the CESTAT, Chennai, where identical issues were considered by the Tribunal, were placed before the First Appellate Authority, a reading of the order of the First Appellate Authority does not show that those decisions were considered by the First Appellate Authority. It is pointed out that the First Appellate Authority conveniently ignored the decisions placed before him for consideration and also proceeded to hold that the order issued by his predecessor in an identically situated case also could not be considered since that order was not challenged only on account of the litigation policy.

3. The learned Standing Counsel appearing for the respondents referred to the counter affidavit filed in the writ pet