Valid service under excise law required acknowledgement of receipt; barcode reference alone was insufficient for appeal processing.

Valid service of an excise order under section 37C(1)(a) required production of the appellant's acknowledgement of receipt; reliance only on a speed-post barcode reference was insufficient to establish service before the relevant date. As no acknowledgement was produced, the appeal was directed to be processed, assigned an appeal number, and listed before the Division Bench at the earliest.

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Issues: Whether the impugned order had been validly served under section 37C(1)(a) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 so as to enable further processing of the appeal.

Analysis: The Revenue was required to produce acknowledgement of service from the appellant. The material placed only showed reliance on a speed-post barcode reference, but no acknowledgement obtained from the appellant was produced to show service of the impugned order before the relevant date.

Outcome: The Registry was directed to process the appeal, assign an appeal number, and list the matter before the Division Bench at the earliest.

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