Exclusion of time under Section 14 fails where the earlier appeal was filed in a competent forum and decided on merits.

Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 permits exclusion of time only where the earlier proceeding was prosecuted with due diligence and good faith before a forum lacking jurisdiction or suffering from a similar defect. Where the prior appeal was filed in a competent forum and dismissed on merits as not maintainable, the statutory conditions for exclusion were not met. The contention that limitation should run only from the upload date of the impugned order was also rejected because the order had been pronounced in open court. On that basis, the delay was not condonable and the appeal could not proceed.

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Issues: Whether the appellant was entitled to exclusion of time under Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 for the period spent in the earlier appeal, and consequently whether the delay in filing the present appeal deserved condonation.

Analysis: Section 14 applies only where the prior and subsequent proceedings are prosecuted by the same party with due diligence and good faith, and the earlier proceeding fails because of defect of jurisdiction or a cause of like nature. The earlier appeal had been filed before a competent forum and had been dismissed on merits as not maintainable, not for want of jurisdiction or a similar defect. The facts therefore did not satisfy the essential conditions for exclusion of time under Section 14. The submission that limitation should run only from the upload date of the impugned order was also not accepted, since the order had been pronounced in open court.

Conclusion: The appellant was not entitled to the benefit of Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963, the delay was not condonable, and the appeal was liable to be dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: Exclusion of time under Section 14 is available only when the earlier proceeding was prosecuted bona fide and with due diligence in a forum lacking jurisdiction or suffering from a similar defect; it does not apply where the prior proceeding was instituted in a competent forum and decided on merits.

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