TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 20
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.... filed with a delay of 318 days. The order impugned [Order-in-Appeal No.54(AK)ST/JDR/2023 da] was passed on February 28, 2023 by the Commissioner (Appeals), Central Excise & Central Goods & Service Tax, Jodhpur. The reason for delay as stated in the application for condonation of delay are as under:- "i. That the Applicant- Appellant was informed by banker i.e., Bank Manager, IDBI Bank Ltd, Durga Vihar Colony, Jhalawar, Kota, Rajasthan that they (Banker) received letter dated 23.04.2024 alongwith notice under Section 87(b) of the Finance Act, 1994 issued to Bank Manager, IDBI Bank Ltd., by the Assistant Commissioner, CGST, Division-I, Kota, intimating thereunder that the bank should freeze / mark lien of the money as recovery with ....
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....pellant had filed the present appeal on 18.06.2024 on considering that there is no delay in filing appeal as such. 4. That keeping in view the present defect the Applicant- Appellant is filing the present Condonation of delay application on the assumption that by the normal date of delivery and receipt of the impugned Order-in-Appeal, there is possibility of delay in filing by 381 days. 5. That it is further informed that subsequent to filing of the present appeal on 18.06.2024 and on continuous follow up by the Applicant- Appellant, the office of the Commissioner (Appeals), Jodhpur had forwarded the attested copy of the said Order-in-Appeal dated 28.02.2023 as on 25.07.2024. That hence, even if, the date of receipt of att....
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....pt." 3. The appellant has also annexed the copy of the Certificate issued by the Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan, Birth Registration Certificate and PAN Card of Atul Meena, so as to point out the date of birth of Atul Meena as 24.10.2006 which shows that he was a minor aged around 16 1/2 years on the date of receipt of the order i.e. 20.04.2023. 4. The Revenue has now submitted a latest communication dated February 3,2026 giving the entire details of the service of the order on the appellant, which is as under:-- "In this context, it is submitted that original copy of OIA No. 54(AK)ST/JDR/2023 dated 28.02.2023 was sent to Shri Suresh Kumar Meena Prop. of M/s Atul Construction, A-16, New Master Colony, Patan Road, Jhal....
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....pliance was very difficult they could not give proper site to the notice served. There was lack of adequate opportunity of being heard." 6. Considering the above statement, it is prima-facie evident that the statement is just an afterthought and there was no bona fide on the part of the appellant for the simple reason that show cause notice was issued on November 7, 2019 and the personal hearings were fixed in the month of January and early February, 2020, by which time corona pandemic has not hit the country and it is only by March 22, 2020 that lockdown was imposed. There was no reason before that to justify the plea taken by the appellant. The order-in-original passed on February 10, 2021 was challenged by the appellant by filing an a....
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....d it is thereafter on receipt of the unattested copy the appeal was filed before this Tribunal on June 18, 2024. But when the Department submitted the receipt of the impugned order, the appellant came out with the plea that there was no proper service and the son of the appellant, who is alleged to have received the order was a minor. The manner in which the appellant has been pursuing the proceedings clearly shows his negligence and callous attitude and somehow trying to circumvent the delay by taking frivolous pleas. 9. We may also take note of the fact that the show cause notice, the order-in-original and the order-in-appeal have been dispatched on the same address which the appellant has given in the present appeal as: "A-16....