Accrued appellate rights survive repeal, and condonation of delay remains available for transferred appeals under the saved regime.

An accrued right of appeal under the repealed Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 was treated as a substantive right preserved by the saving provision in section 49 of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 read with section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. The Court held that, for appeals pending before the Appellate Board and transferred to the Tribunal, there was no express or implied legislative intention to extinguish that right or to exclude condonation under section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963. The proviso to section 54 of the 1973 Act therefore continued to apply to the transferred appeal, and delay could be condoned.

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Issues: Whether the period of limitation for an appeal transferred from the Appellate Board to the Appellate Tribunal under the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 is governed by section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963, and whether the right of appeal accrued under the repealed Foreign Exchange Regulation Act, 1973 survives by reason of the saving provision.

Analysis: The appeal right under the repealed 1973 Act was treated as a substantive right accruing on initiation of the original proceeding. The repeal and saving provision in section 49 of the 1999 Act was read with section 6 of the General Clauses Act, 1897, which preserves accrued rights unless a contrary intention clearly appears. The Court distinguished between the limitation scheme for appeals filed after commencement and appeals already pending before the Board and transferred to the Tribunal, and held that there was no express legislative intention to extinguish the earlier accrued right of appeal or to exclude the benefit of section 5 of the Limitation Act for such transferred appeals. The proviso to section 54 of the 1973 Act was held to continue to apply to the transferred appeal through section 49(6) of the 1999 Act.

Conclusion: Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 applies to the transferred appeal, and the right of appeal under the repealed 1973 Act is preserved for the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The decision favours preservation of the pre-repeal appellate remedy and rejects the view that the 1999 Act ousted condonation of delay for appeals transferred from the repealed regime.

Ratio Decidendi: A repeal does not extinguish an accrued substantive right of appeal or the attendant power to condone delay unless the repealing statute expressly or by necessary implication excludes that right; a saving clause preserving section 6 of the General Clauses Act continues the earlier appellate regime for pending proceedings.

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