Ambika Cotton Mills Limited Unit-Ii vs. The Assistant Commissioner Of Central Excise

Held

The Court condoned the delay of 2320 days in filing the writ appeals. The Court acknowledged the significant delay but found the reason for it, namely the pendency of Review Applications (MD) Nos. 16 & 17 of 2017, to be acceptable. As these review applications have since been dismissed as withdrawn, the Court decided to grant an opportunity to the petitioner to contest the case on its merits. This decision was made conditional upon the petitioner paying a cost of Rs. 2,000/- to the Chief Justice's Relief Fund within two weeks. Failure to comply would result in the automatic dismissal of the petitions. Upon payment of costs, the Registry was directed to number the writ appeals and list them for hearing.

Facts

The petitioner, Ambika Cotton Mills Limited Unit-II, filed writ petitions (WP(MD) Nos. 8104 & 8105 of 2008) challenging orders dated 11/07/2008 and 21.07.2008 passed by the Assistant Commissioner of Central Excise, Dindigul-I Division. These writ petitions were dismissed by an order dated 06/12/2013. Subsequently, the petitioner filed writ appeals (W.A.(MD) SR Nos. 24846 & 24847 of 2022) against the order of the learned single judge, but with a significant delay of 2320 days. The present petitions (C.M.P.(MD) Nos. 6731 & 6732 of 2022) were filed to condone this delay.

Key Issues

1. Whether the delay of 2320 days in filing the writ appeals should be condoned, considering the explanation provided by the petitioner? The petitioner argued that the delay was primarily due to the pendency of Review Applications (MD) Nos. 16 & 17 of 2017. The respondents, represented by the Senior Standing Counsel for GST & Customs, opposed the condonation of delay, contending that the petitioner had not provided a satisfactory explanation for the substantial delay and prayed for the dismissal of the petitions.