Exclusive statutory service provisions prevail over civil procedure, and official records may prove service unless convincingly rebutted.

Section 22 of the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act prescribes an exclusive mode of serving notices and orders, beginning with tender or registered post and, if that fails, service by affixture. Section 15 does not import the Code of Civil Procedure for service under the Act. Where the record shows dispatch by registered post and subsequent affixture, and the returned postal cover is unavailable, the presumption of regularity under section 114 of the Indian Evidence Act may support proof of service. On that basis, the order was treated as duly served on 9 May 1980 and the 2001 appeal was held time-barred.

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Issues: Whether the impugned order was duly served in accordance with section 22 of the Smugglers and Foreign Exchange Manipulators (Forfeiture of Property) Act, 1976, and whether the appeal was consequently barred by limitation.

Analysis: Section 22 of the Act prescribes the complete mode of service of notices and orders, first by tendering or registered post to the person concerned or his agent, and then, if that mode fails, by affixture. Section 15 confers only limited civil court powers and does not extend the Code of Civil Procedure to service of orders under the Act. The records and note file showed dispatch by registered post and subsequent service by affixture. In the absence of the returned postal cover, the Tribunal relied on the presumption under section 114 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, that official acts are regularly performed, and accepted the official record as proof of service.

Conclusion: The order was held to have been duly served by affixture on 9 May 1980, the appeal filed in 2001 was held hopelessly time-barred, and the challenge to maintainability failed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a special statute prescribes an exclusive mode of service, that procedure governs to the exclusion of the general civil procedure, and official records supporting service attract the presumption of regularity unless convincingly displaced.

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