Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999
19. Appeal to Appellate Tribunal
(1) Save as provided in sub-section (2), the Central Government
or any person aggrieved by an order made by an Adjudicating Authority other
than those referred to sub-section (1) of section 17, or the Special Director
(Appeals), may prefer an appeal to the Appellate Tribunal:
Provided that any person appealing against the order of
the Adjudicating Authority or the Special Director (Appeals) levying any
penalty, shall while filing the appeal, deposit the amount of such penalty with
such authority as may be notified by the Central Government:
Provided further that where in any particular case, the
Appellate Tribunal is of the opinion that the deposit of such penalty would
cause undue hardship to such person, the Appellate Tribunal may dispense with
such deposit subject to such conditions as it may deem fit to impose so as to
safeguard the realization of penalty.
(2) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within a
period of forty-five days from the date on which a copy of the order made by
the Adjudicating Authority or the Special Director (Appeals) is received by the
aggrieved person or by the Central Government and it shall be in such form
verified in such manner and be accompanied by such fee as may be prescribed:
Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may entertain an
appeal after the expiry of the said period of forty-five days if it is
satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing it within that period.
(3) On receipt of an appeal under sub-section (1), the Appellate
Tribunal may, after giving the parties to the appeal an opportunity of being
heard, pass such orders thereon as it thinks fit, confirming, modifying or
setting aside the order appealed against.
(4) The Appellate Tribunal shall send a copy of every order made
by it to the par-ties to the appeal and to the concerned Adjudicating Authority
(or the Special Director (Appeals) as the case may be.
(5) The appeal filed before the Appellate Tribunal under
sub-section (1) shall be dealt with by it as expeditiously as possible and
endeavor shall be made by it to dispose of the appeal finally within one
hundred and eighty days from the date of receipt of the appeal:
Provided that where any appeal could not be disposed
off within the said period of one hundred and eighty days, the Appellate
Tribunal shall record its reasons in writing for not disposing off the appeal
within the said period.
(6) The Appellate Tribunal may, for the purpose of examining the
legality, propriety or correctness of any order made by the Adjudicating
Authority under section 16 in relation to any proceeding, on its own motion or
other-wise, call for the records of such proceedings and make such order in the
case as it think fit.