Maintainability and limitation defeated an appeal filed against a non-appealable letter.

An appeal against a communication issued as a letter, rather than an appealable order, was held not maintainable. The record also showed that the appeal was filed long after the communication relied upon by the department, so the limitation objection was accepted. On these facts, both the maintainability challenge and the delay objection succeeded, and the appeal could not be entertained.

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Issues: Whether the appeal was maintainable and within limitation when filed against a letter issued by the Assistant Commissioner, and whether the rejection of the appeal on those grounds was justified.

Analysis: The factory remained closed for the relevant period, but the challenged communication was only a letter from the Assistant Commissioner (Technical) and not an appealable order of the Assistant Commissioner. The records also showed that the appeal was filed long after the communication relied upon by the department. On these facts, both the objection as to delay and the objection as to maintainability were accepted.

Conclusion: The appeal was not maintainable and was barred by delay, so it could not be allowed.

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