Limitation Act inapplicable to excise appellate delay, so the time-barred appeal dismissal was upheld.

Sections 4 and 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 were held inapplicable to the appellate authority under Section 35 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 because the Act contained no specific power to condone delay and the authority was not a court for that purpose. The appeal had been filed well after the prescribed three-month period, and no valid ground for condonation was shown. The dismissal of the appeal as time-barred was therefore upheld, and writ interference was found unwarranted.

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Issues: Whether the appellate authority under Section 35 of the Central Excises and Salt Act, 1944 could condone the delay in filing the appeal by applying Sections 4 and 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963, and whether the dismissal of the appeal as time-barred could be interfered with in writ proceedings.

Analysis: The appeal was filed long after the expiry of the prescribed three-month period. The Act contained no specific provision empowering the appellate authority to condone delay. The provisions of Sections 4 and 5 of the Limitation Act apply to proceedings before courts and not to tribunals of this nature, and the appellate collector was therefore not competent to invoke those provisions. The authorities below also found no valid or justifiable ground for condoning the delay, so no basis existed for quashing their orders in writ jurisdiction.

Conclusion: The delay could not be condoned under the Limitation Act, and the dismissal of the appeal as barred by limitation was upheld.

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