Procedural limitation on rectification applications applies prospectively, blocking a four-year filing period after the amendment.

The amendment to Section 35C(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944, which reduced the rectification period from four years to six months, was held to be procedural and not to extinguish the underlying right to seek rectification. The revised time limit therefore governed applications filed after the amendment came into force, even where the final order pre-dated the change. An application could not validly be filed within four years after the amendment, and the contrary view was declared not to be correct law. The issue was answered against the applicants.

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Issues: Whether, after the amendment of Section 35C(2) of the Central Excise Act, 1944 by Section 140 of the Finance Act, 2002 reducing the period for rectification of mistake from four years to six months, an application for rectification could still be filed within four years in respect of an earlier final order.

Analysis: The amended provision reduced only the time available for seeking rectification and did not take away the substantive right to seek rectification. The governing effect of the amendment was procedural, not substantive, and the restriction on time for enforcement of the right was held to apply to applications filed after the amendment came into force. The Tribunal followed the principle that a procedural limitation may validly regulate the manner and time for enforcement of an existing right, and applied the reasoning of the Supreme Court on analogous limitation-based amendments.

Conclusion: The application could not be filed within four years after the amendment, and the earlier view taking a contrary position was held not to be correct law. The question was answered against the applicants.

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