Foreign trade appeal limitation and pre-deposit waiver upheld, requiring merits hearing instead of dismissal.

Limitation for an appeal to the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade is computed from communication of the original order; on the admitted dates, the appeal filed within 45 days was not time-barred, so rejection on limitation could not stand. Insistence on pre-deposit was also unjustified where the manufacturing unit had been closed since July 2001; the appeal should have been entertained without that condition. The impugned order was quashed and the appellate authority was directed to hear the matter on merits after treating the appeal as timely and without pre-deposit.

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Issues: (i) whether the appeal before the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade was within limitation; (ii) whether the condition of pre-deposit ought to have been waived in the facts of the case.

Issue (i): Whether the appeal before the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade was within limitation.

Analysis: The limitation for filing the appeal was computed from the date of communication of the original order, and on the admitted dates the appeal was filed within the prescribed 45 days. The dismissal of the appeal as time-barred was therefore not sustainable.

Conclusion: The issue was decided in favour of the petitioner, and the appeal was held to be within limitation.

Issue (ii): Whether the condition of pre-deposit ought to have been waived in the facts of the case.

Analysis: The manufacturing unit had been closed since July 2001, and in those circumstances insistence on pre-deposit was found unjustified. The Court accepted that the appeal should have been entertained without insisting on that condition.

Conclusion: The issue was decided in favour of the petitioner, and waiver of pre-deposit was directed.

Final Conclusion: The impugned order rejecting the appeal was quashed and the appellate authority was directed to hear and decide the appeal on merits after treating it as timely and without insisting on pre-deposit.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the appellate period is calculated from communication of the order and the appeal is within time, and where the circumstances justify relaxation of pre-deposit, the authority cannot reject the appeal on those grounds and must decide it on merits.

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