Repealing statute and appellate limitation: delay cannot be condoned beyond the outer limit under the later law.

A repealing statute that abolishes the earlier appellate forum and creates a new appellate mechanism leaves appeals from orders passed under the new structure governed by the later Act's limitation and condonation rules. The saving clause preserves pending appeals and existing rights, but it does not recharacterise such an appeal as one under the repealed Act's former appellate provision. As a result, condonation cannot be granted beyond the outer limit prescribed by the later law, and a delay exceeding that limit is not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the appeal against the Appellate Tribunal's order, arising from proceedings initiated under the repealed foreign exchange regime, could be treated as an appeal under the repealed Act or the saving clause so as to permit condonation of delay beyond the period prescribed under the later Act.

Analysis: The repeal of the earlier enactment by the later enactment expressly dissolved the earlier appellate forum and substituted the appellate structure under the later law. Appeals against adjudication orders passed after commencement of the later law were therefore required to be filed before the authorities constituted under that law. The saving clause preserved pending appeals and certain existing rights, but it did not convert an appeal from the Appellate Tribunal into an appeal under the repealed Act's provisions governing appeals from the earlier Appellate Board. The appeal before the High Court was, in substance, one governed by the later Act's appeal provision, which allowed condonation only up to the statutorily extended outer limit.

Conclusion: The appeal was governed by the limitation regime under the later Act and the High Court had no power to condone a delay beyond the maximum period prescribed therein.

Final Conclusion: The application for condonation of 291 days' delay was not maintainable under the applicable appellate scheme, and the proceeding stood dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where a repealing statute expressly abolishes the earlier appellate forum and creates a new appellate mechanism, an appeal from an order passed under the new appellate structure is governed by the limitation and condonation provisions of the new statute, not by the repealed Act's appeal provision.

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