Strict condonation limit under Customs Act bars delayed appeal where filing exceeds the maximum statutory period

Delay beyond the maximum condonable period under the proviso to Section 28KA of the Customs Act, 1962 cannot be condoned. The appeal was filed 102 days late, exceeding both the statutory sixty-day limit and the additional thirty-day period available for condonation. The court rejected the plea of continuing wrong because the authorities relied on were not decided under a comparable provision, and a different order under other statutory provisions was inapposite. The condonation application was therefore rejected, and the appeal failed at the threshold.

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Issues: Whether delay of 102 days in filing the appeal under Section 28KA of the Customs Act, 1962 could be condoned when it exceeded the further period of thirty days provided in the proviso.

Analysis: The appeal was filed beyond the statutory period of sixty days and also beyond the additional condonable period of thirty days. The applicable precedent had already held that delay beyond the maximum period permitted by the proviso to Section 28KA cannot be condoned. The plea of continuing wrong was rejected because the authorities cited were not decided in the context of a provision comparable to Section 28KA. The reliance on another order concerning different statutory provisions was also found inapposite.

Conclusion: The delay could not be condoned, and the application for condonation was rejected.

Final Conclusion: The appeal failed at the threshold for want of condonation of delay, and the connected proceedings ceased to survive.

Ratio Decidendi: Delay beyond the maximum condonable period expressly provided in the proviso to Section 28KA of the Customs Act, 1962 cannot be condoned.

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