Limitation exclusion for bona fide pursuit before the wrong forum applies to Customs appeals before the appellate commissioner.

Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 can be invoked when an assessee has bona fide pursued an appeal before the wrong forum and later re-presents it before the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) under Section 128 of the Customs Act, 1962. The Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), being a quasi-judicial authority, may be treated as sufficiently analogous to a court for this purpose, so the time spent before the mistaken forum may be excluded from the limitation computation. The effect is that an appeal filed after such exclusion can be treated as within time in favour of the assessee.

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Issues: Whether Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 could be invoked for computing the limitation period for an appeal under Section 128 of the Customs Act, 1962 before the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals).

Analysis: The appeal had been presented before the wrong authority and was later re-presented before the appellate authority with an application seeking exclusion of the period spent before the mistaken forum. The question was whether the appellate authority under the Customs Act could be treated as a court for the purpose of Section 14 of the Limitation Act. The Court held that the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals), being a quasi-judicial authority, stood on the same footing for the purpose of extending the benefit of Section 14 when a litigant had bona fide pursued remedies before the wrong forum.

Conclusion: Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 applies to appeals filed before the Commissioner of Customs (Appeals) under Section 128 of the Customs Act, 1962, and the exclusion of time spent before the wrong forum was warranted, in favour of the assessee.

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