Court dismisses revenue's appeal under Section 35G of Central Excise Act, citing limitation period breach.

The High Court of Punjab and Haryana dismissed the revenue's appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, challenging a Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal order. The court held that initiating penalty proceedings after five years exceeded the limitation period, citing a Supreme Court judgment. The appeal was deemed meritless and dismissed.

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Issues: Whether penalty proceedings initiated after the expiry of five years could be sustained in the absence of a prescribed statutory limitation period.

Analysis: The proceedings for imposition of penalty were initiated after more than five years. In the absence of an express limitation provision, a reasonable period has to be read into the statute. Applying that principle, the Court held that five years constituted a reasonable period for initiating such proceedings, and delay beyond that period could not justify interference with the appellate order.

Conclusion: The challenge to the Tribunal's order failed, and the appeal was dismissed in favour of the assessee.

Final Conclusion: The order under challenge was upheld because initiation of penalty proceedings beyond five years was held to be beyond a reasonable period.

Ratio Decidendi: Where no statutory limitation is prescribed for initiating fiscal proceedings, action taken after five years is beyond a reasonable period and cannot be sustained.

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