(1) Any person objecting to an order affecting him passed by an appropriate authority under sub-section (6) or sub-section (7) of section 14, section 14A, sub-section (2) or sub-section (3) or sub-section (4) or sub-section (4A) of section 17, sub-section (1) or sub-section (2) of section 19, section 19 A, 19B, 19C, 26, 29, 29 A, 30, 30 A, or an order passed by a lower authority under section 43 and section 45A and any person objecting to an order passed by the Deputy Commissioner under sub-section (1) of section 35, may within a period of sixty days from the date on which the order was served on him in the manner prescribed, appeal against such order to the Appellate Tribunal :

Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may admit an appeal after the expiration of the said period if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not presenting the appeal within the said period.

(2) All appeals together with the interlocutory applications, if any, pending for disposal before any appellate authority under this Act as on the date of commencement of this provision shall stand transferred to the Appellate Tribunal and the Appellate Tribunal shall consider the same as if it is and appeal filed before it.

(2A) No appeal under this section shall be entertained unless at the time of presenting the appeal, the assessee has furnished satisfactory proof of payment of tax due on the turnover admitted by him.

(2B) The authority by whom the order appealed against had been passed or any officer empowered by the Government in this behalf, as the case may be, on receipt of notice that an appeal has been preferred under subsection (1) may file within thirty days of receipt of the notice, a memorandum of cross objections, which shall be considered by the Appellate Tribunal while disposing of the appeal.

(3) The appeal or the memorandum of cross objections shall be in the prescribed form and shall be verified in the prescribed manner and, in the case of an appeal preferred by any person other than an officer empowered by the Government under sub-section (1), it shall be accompanied by a fee of seven hundred rupees.

(4) In disposing of an appeal, the Appellate Tribunal may after giving the parties a reasonable opportunity of being heard either in person or by a representative.

(a) in the case of an order of assessment or penalty, -

(i) confirm, reduce, enhance or annual the assessment or penalty or both;

(ii) set aside the assessment and direct the assessing authority to make a fresh assessment after such further enquiry as may be directed; or

(iii) pass such other orders as it may think fit; or

(b) in the case of any other order, confirm, cancel or vary such order;

Provided that, if the appeal involves a question of law on which the Appellate Tribunal has previously given its decision in another appeal and either a revision petition in the High Court against such decision or an appeal in the Supreme Court against the order of the High Court thereon is pending, the Appellate Tribunal may defer the hearing of the appeal before it, till such revision petition in the High Court r the appeal in the Supreme Court is disposed of,

(5) Where as a result of the appeal any change becomes necessary in the order appealed against, the Appellate Tribunal may authorize the assessing authority to amend such order accordingly and on such amendment being made any amount overpaid by the appellant shall be refunded to him or the further amount of tax, if any, due from him shall be collected in accordance with the provisions of this Act.

(6) Notwithstanding that an appeal has been preferred under sub-section (1), the tax shall be paid in accordance with the order of assessment against which the appeal has been preferred:

Provided that the Appellate Tribunal may, in its discretion, give such directions as it thinks fit in regard to the payment of the tax before the disposal of the appeal, if the appellant furnishes sufficient security to its satisfaction in such form and in such manner as may be prescribed.

Provided further that where the Appellate Tribunal has passed an order of stay in an appeal it shall dispose of the appeal within a period of one hundred and eighty days from the date of such order:

Provide also that if such appeal is not so disposed of within the period specified in the second proviso the stay order shall stand vacated after the expiry of the said period.

Explanation. - For the purpose of the second and third proviso, an order of stay in an appeal passed prior to the 23rd day of July 2001 shall be deemed to have been passed on the 23rd day of July 2001.

(7) (a) The appellant or the respondent may apply for review of any order passed by the Appellate Tribunal under sub- section (4) on the basis of the discovery of new and important facts which after the exercise of due diligence were not within his knowledge or could not be produced by him when the order was made.

Provided that no such application shall be preferred more than once in respect of the same order.

(b) The application for review shall be preferred in the prescribed manner and within one year from the date on which a copy of the order to which the application relates was served on the applicant in the manner prescribed, and where the application is preferred by any person other than an officer empowered by the Government under sub-section (1), it shall be accompanied by such a fee of rupees two hundred and fifty.

(8) Every order passed by the Appellate Tribunal under subsection (4) or sub-section (7) shall be communicated in the manner prescribed to the appellant, the respondent, the authority from whose order the appeal was preferred the Deputy Commissioner concerned if he is not such authority and the Board of Revenue.-