2012 (12) TMI 113

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....e unexpected and abrupt relieving of Mr. Vineet Kumar Gupta, the Senior Finance Controller, under exceptional circumstances, during the aforesaid period, Mr. Gupta resigned on 26th July, 2010 and on the same day he was relived from his duties. He was responsible for handling the tax matters of the Appellant, including filing the present appeal. Given the unexpected relieving of Mr. Gupta under exceptional circumstances there was no scope for proper briefing and handover of information regarding critical issues (including litigation matters of the company) to Mr. Kaushik Sarkar, who was his successor. Further, at the time of relieving of Mr. Gupta, Mr. Kaushik Sarkar was in Bangalore and immediately thereafter he travelled to USA for urgent ....

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.... The details of the refund claims is as under :- S. No. Amount of Refund Period involved/Date of payment of service Tax Date of filing 1. Rs.23,43,525/- Oct. 07 to March 08 8.6.2009 2. Rs. 15,83,877/- 31.3.2007 8.6.2009 3. Rs.45,57,862/- 20.11.07 & 22.2.08 8.6.2009 4. Rs. 12,17,544/- 2006-07 8.6.2009 5. Rs. 3,97,922/- April 07 to Sep. 07 8.6.2009 6. Rs.23,43,525/- 7.6.2007 8.6.2009 3. These refund applications were rejected by the lower authorities on the ground that it is time-barred under provisions of Section 11B of Central Excise Act made applicable in relation to service tax by section 83 of Finance Act, 1994. We find that the appellants have not bee....

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....antan Mahendra Shukla's (supra) was in the case of suspension of the Custom House Agents License of the appellant. In the case of N. Balakrishnan's case (supra) the matter involved was delay in a matter involving declaration of title and ancilliary relief and the order was passed ex-parte against the applicant. None of these relate to refund of taxes which matter needs verification with reference to records maintained by Government and there is a major constraint in preserving records over long period. The time limits for refund of duty and filing of appeals in tax matters have to be seen in such context setting such provisions to naught by liberal interpretation can cause serious difficulties to the tax authorities in collecting and verify....

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....hen stakes are high and/or arguable points of acts and law are involved in the case, causing enormous loss and irreparable injury to the party against whom the lis terminates, either by default or inaction and defeating valuable right of such a party to have the decision on merit. While considering the matter, courts have to strike a balance between resultant effect of the order it is going to pass upon the parties after way." 8. Thus each case has to be examined with reference to the facts of the case. The question whether there is a negligence on the part of the appellant is a very relevant question. Further the standards to be adopted while dealing with different types of litigation also has to be different. The standards applicable f....