Appeal dismissed on limitation grounds, court excludes certain days from calculation. Order set aside, matter remanded.

The appeal was dismissed by the court based on limitation grounds. The appellant had filed the appeal three days past the 90-day limit, arguing that certain days should be excluded from the calculation. The court found that the days when the court was closed and the day of receiving the order should be excluded as per relevant sections of the Limitation Act. Consequently, the appeal was considered to be filed within the prescribed period. The court referred to previous decisions supporting the exclusion of holidays for filing appeals and set aside the order, remanding the matter for further consideration on the merits.

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Issues: Appeal dismissed on the ground of limitation.

The judgment pertains to an appeal against the Order-in-Appeal, where the Commissioner dismissed the appeal solely based on limitation grounds. The appellant argued that the appeal, filed three days beyond the 90-day limit, should not be considered time-barred as the date of receiving the order and the closing dates for the appropriate forum were not taken into account. On the contrary, the Department justified the dismissal by emphasizing the date of the order and the appeal being filed beyond 90 days. After hearing both parties and examining the record, it was established that the order under challenge was announced on January 30, 2018, received on March 25, 2018, and the appeal was filed on June 25, 2018, exceeding the 90-day limit by three days.

The crucial issue to be determined was whether the three days beyond the 90-day limit should be excluded to consider the appeal filed within the prescribed period. Section 4 of the Limitation Act was deemed relevant, which states that when the Court is closed, that day should be excluded, and the appeal can be instituted on the day the Court reopens. It further explains that if the Court remains closed during normal working hours on a particular day, that day should also be excluded. In this case, the last days for filing the appeal, June 23 and 24, 2018, were closed due to being Saturday and Sunday. Therefore, these two days were to be excluded as per Section 4 of the Limitation Act.

Moreover, Section 12 of the Limitation Act specifies that the day of receiving the order should be excluded when calculating the limitation period. Hence, the third day was also excluded. Consequently, it was determined that the appeal was filed on the 90th day from the date of order receipt. The judgment highlighted that the Commissioner erred in deeming the appeal time-barred, citing the decision in S.K. Enterprises and the case of Sapna Packaging Industries vs. CCE, Chennai, where exclusion of holidays for filing appeals was recognized. The order under challenge was set aside, remanding the matter back to the adjudicating authority for further consideration on the merits.

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