2026 (4) TMI 696

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....ing has been held:- "ORDER In view of the above discussion & findings, without going into merits of the case, I hereby dismiss the present appeal No. 76-ST/AAPL-MRT/GZB/2023-24 dated 06.07.2023 filed by M/s Accurate Advertising Agency, 14A/7, Vasundhara, Ghaziabad-201012 (U.P.) against the Order-in-Original No. 10/DC/TDP/S.Tax/D-1/GZB/2022-23 dated 31.01.2023 passed by the Deputy Commissioner, Central GST Division-1, Ghaziabad, due to the failure of the appellant to comply with the provision of Section 85(3A) of the Finance Act, 1994." 2.1 I have heard Shri Pranjal Shukla, learned Counsel for the appellant and Shri Abhishek Banarjee, Authorized Representative appearing for the revenue. 3.1 I have considered the impugned or....

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....ch adjudicating authority, made on and after the Finance Bill, 2012 receives the assent of the President, relating to service tax, interest or penalty under this Chapter : Provided that the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) may, if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within the aforesaid period of two months, allow it to be presented within a further period of one month." In terms of the above, it is observed that the appeal was to be filed before the Commissioner (Appeal) within two months of the date of the receipt of the Order-in-Original by the appellant. As per the proviso Commissioner (Appeal) has been granted the power to condone delay of one month in fili....

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....s. (2) Every appeal under this section shall be in the prescribed form and shall be verified in the prescribed manner." 7. It is to be noted that the periods "sixty days" and "thirty days" have been substituted for "within three months" and "three months" by Act 14 of 2001, with effect from 11-5-2001. 8. The Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) as also the Tribunal being creatures of Statute are vested with jurisdiction to condone the delay beyond the permissible period provided under the Statute. The period upto which the prayer for condonation can be accepted is statutorily provided. It was submitted that the logic of Section 5 of the Indian Limitation Act, 1963 (in short the 'Limitation Act') can be availed....

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.... sufficient cause being shown. 10. Sufficient cause is an expression which is found in various statutes. It essentially means as adequate or enough. There cannot be any straitjacket formula for accepting or rejecting the explanation furnished for delay caused in taking steps. In the instant case, the explanation offered for the abnormal delay of nearly 20 months is that the appellant concern was practically closed after 1998 and it was only opened for some short period. From the application for condonation of delay, it appears that the appellant has categorically accepted that on receipt of order the same was immediately handed over to the consultant for filing an appeal. If that is so, the plea that because of lack of experience i....

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....ance substantial justice, though liberal approach, justice-oriented approach or cause of substantial justice may be kept in mind but the same cannot be used to defeat the substantial law of limitation contained in Section 3 of the Limitation Act; (v) Courts are empowered to exercise discretion to condone the delay if sufficient cause had been explained, but that exercise of power is discretionary in nature and may not be exercised even if sufficient cause is established for various factors such as, where there is inordinate delay, negligence and want of due diligence; (vi) Merely some persons obtained relief in similar matter, it does not mean that others are also entitled to the same benefit if the court is not satisfied ....

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....60 of the 2005 Rules on 8-5-2018 and pursued the same in appeal, which was rejected on 17-8-2018. Furthermore, the appeal in question against the assessment order came to be filed only on 24-9-2018 without disclosing the date on which the respondent in fact became aware about the existence of the assessment order dated 21-6-2017. On the other hand, in the affidavit of Mr. Sreedhar Routh, Site Director of the respondent-company (filed in support of the application for condonation of delay before the appellate authority), it is stated that the company became aware about the irregularities committed by its erring official (Mr. P. Sriram Murthy) in the month of July, 2018, which pre-supposes that the respondent must have become aware about the ....