ISHWAR METAL INDUSTRIES Vs. COMMISSIONER OF CENTRAL EXCISE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THE delay in filing the present appeal is of 14 days which stands attributable to the fact that the appellant being away from his place of office.

(2.) Keeping in view the fact that the delay is only about 14 days, we condone the day. Further we note that the Commissioner (Appeals) has rejected the appeal on the point of time -bar inasmuch as the appeal before him was filed with the delay of 69 days. The appellant filed COD application before Commissioner (Appeals) on the ground that their excise person left the job on 24 -2 -2007 and such the appeal could not be prepared well within the time and could not be filed before the last date of expiry, i.e., 21 -4 -2011. The Commissioner (Appeals) has not accepted the above reason for late filing of appeal and rejected the appeal.

(3.) AT this stage, we may take note of the decision of Hon'ble Supreme Court in the case of Perumon Bhagvathy Devaswom wherein after discussing no. of judgments as well as that of the High Courts, enunciated the principles which need to be kept in mind while dealing with applications filed under the provisions of Order 22, CPC along with an application under Section 5, Limitation Act for condonation of delay in filing the application for bringing the legal representatives on record. In paragraph 13 of the judgment, the Hon'ble Court has as under: -