Holiday due date extension: payment on the next working day is timely and cannot count as a default.

Where a statutory duty payment due date fell on a Sunday and the bank was closed, payment made on the next working day was treated as timely under Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897. The rule of construction was held to apply to statutory rules made under a Central Act unless the context requires otherwise, so the payment could not be treated as a default under Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 2001. As a result, forfeiture of the instalment facility under Rule 8(4)(ii) was not justified, because the alleged repeated default was unsustainable when performance on the next working day was legally permitted.

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Issues: Whether payment of excise duty made on the next working day, when the due date fell on a bank holiday, could be treated as payment in time under Rule 8 of the Central Excise Rules, 2001, and whether such payment constituted a default so as to justify forfeiture of the facility under Rule 8(4)(ii).

Analysis: Rule 8 requires duty to be paid by the specified due date, and Rule 8(4)(ii) visits repeated default with the consequence of forfeiture of the instalment facility. However, Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 embodies the principle that where the prescribed time expires on a holiday, the act may validly be done on the next working day. That rule of construction applies not merely to Central Acts but also to statutory rules made under them, unless the context requires otherwise. Since the due date in question fell on a Sunday and the bank was closed, payment made on the next working day was within the time permitted by law and could not be treated as a default. The principle that the law does not compel performance of the impossible also supports this construction.

Conclusion: Payment made on the next working day after the due date fell on a holiday was treated as payment in time, and the alleged third default was unsustainable.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a statutory due date expires on a holiday, Section 10 of the General Clauses Act, 1897 applies to statutory rules and deems performance on the next working day to be within time, so the act cannot be treated as a default.

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