Limitation under Gold Control Act runs from communication of the order, and the receipt date must be excluded in computing time.

The limitation period under Section 80 of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968 runs from the date of communication of the order, not from the date of the order itself or the date of dispatch. The relevant date is when the appellant actually came to know of the decision, and that date must be excluded when computing the three-month period. On that basis, the appeal filed on 3-12-1984 was within time. The rejection of the appeal as time-barred was also improper because the appellant was not first given an opportunity to clarify the date of receipt before limitation was decided against it.

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Issues: Whether the appeal before the Collector (Appeals) was barred by limitation under Section 80 of the Gold (Control) Act, 1968.

Analysis: The period of limitation under Section 80 runs from the date of communication of the decision or order, and not from the date of the order or the date of dispatch. The date when the appellant came to know of the order was the relevant date for computing limitation. Even on the date relied upon by the Collector (Appeals), the appeal filed on 3-12-1984 was within time because the date of receipt was required to be excluded while reckoning the three-month period. The appellant was also not given an opportunity to clarify the date of receipt before the appeal was rejected as time-barred.

Conclusion: The appeal was not barred by limitation and the rejection on that ground was erroneous.

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