Revenue's appeal allowed, Order-in-Appeal set aside due to appeal timeliness, remanded for decision. The Tribunal allowed the Revenue's appeal, setting aside the Order-in-Appeal that deemed the appeal time-barred. It was found that the appeal was filed ...
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Revenue's appeal allowed, Order-in-Appeal set aside due to appeal timeliness, remanded for decision.
The Tribunal allowed the Revenue's appeal, setting aside the Order-in-Appeal that deemed the appeal time-barred. It was found that the appeal was filed within the prescribed time limit due to systemic issues in document transmission, indicating the appeal was timely. The case was remanded to the First Appellate Authority for a decision on the merits.
Issues: Appeal filed by Revenue against rejection of appeal as time-barred due to delay of 18 months.
Analysis:
1. The appeal was filed by the Revenue against the Order-in-Appeal dated 20.05.2013 passed by the Commissioner (Appeals), Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax, Patna, which rejected the appeal as time-barred due to an 18-month delay. The First Appellate Authority held that the appeal was filed after the prescribed time limit.
2. Despite notice, no one appeared on behalf of the respondent during the proceedings.
3. The Revenue submitted that the Order-in-Original (OIO) dated 29.03.2010 and its corrigendum dated 10.05.2010 were not received by the Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Patna. An inquiry conducted by an Additional Commissioner of Central Excise confirmed that neither the OIO nor its corrigendum was received by the Reviewing Authority/RRA branch. However, the First Appellate Authority still considered the appeal time-barred based on the receipt of the documents by the Assistant Commissioner and Range Superintendent.
4. The Tribunal observed that under the Central Excise Review procedure, the proper officer for reviewing orders passed by the Additional Commissioner is the Jurisdictional Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, in this case, the Commissioner of Central Excise and Service Tax, Patna. The inquiry report highlighted that the OIO and its corrigendum were not received by the Reviewing Authority or the CCE Cell, indicating a systemic issue in document transmission. As per the report, the date of receipt by the Reviewing Authority should be considered as 18.11.2011, making the appeal filed on 02.02.2012 within the prescribed time limit.
5. Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the Order-in-Appeal dated 20.05.2013, ruling that the appeal was filed within the stipulated time. The appeal by the Revenue was allowed for remand to the First Appellate Authority to decide the issue on merits after restoring the appeal to its original number.
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