Certificate of posting and presumed postal transit supported timely filing of appeals in favour of the assessee.

Certificate of posting was treated as sufficient evidence of despatch of the appeals, and the Tribunal accepted the factual finding that they would ordinarily have reached the appellate authority within limitation. On that basis, no question of law survived from the record; even if the referred issues were treated as legal questions, the proper inference was that despatch by certificate of posting was proved and timely receipt could be presumed in the ordinary course of postal transit. The questions were answered in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

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Issues: Whether a certificate of posting was sufficient evidence of despatch of the appeals to the appellate authority on the stated date, and whether the appeals could be deemed to have reached the appellate authority in the ordinary course of postal transit within limitation.

Analysis: The dispute concerned receipt of appeal papers sent by the assessee. On appreciation of the evidence, the Tribunal accepted that the appeals had been despatched under certificate of posting and that, in the normal course, they should have reached the appellate authority within time. Once that factual finding was accepted, no question of law arose. Even assuming that the referred questions were questions of law, the proper inference from the record was that despatch by certificate of posting was proved and timely receipt could be presumed in the ordinary course.

Conclusion: The questions were answered in the affirmative, in favour of the assessee and against the Revenue.

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