The Commissioner, CGST And Central Excise vs. M/S Philip Carbon Black LTD.

Facts

The Commissioner, CGST and Central Excise, the applicant-original appellant, filed a Civil Application before the High Court of Gujarat seeking condonation of a delay of 5 days in preferring a Tax Appeal. The respondent is M/s Philip Carbon Black Ltd. The Tax Appeal was to be filed against an order or action not specified in this application. The procedural history relevant here is the filing of this application to overcome the delay in filing the main Tax Appeal.

Held

The Court held that sufficient cause had been made out for the condonation of the delay of 5 days in preferring the Tax Appeal. The reasoning was based on the Court's satisfaction after considering the materials on record and hearing the learned counsel for the parties. The Court found the applicant's explanation for the delay to be acceptable. The ratio decidendi is that when a party demonstrates sufficient cause for a minor delay in filing an appeal, and the opposing party does not contest it, the delay should be condoned to allow the appeal to be heard on merits. The operative direction was to condone the delay and dispose of the Civil Application accordingly, making the rule absolute to that extent.

Key Issues

1. Whether sufficient cause has been made out for condonation of delay of 05 days in preferring the Tax Appeal, as required under the relevant procedural rules for filing appeals. The applicant, the Commissioner, CGST and Central Excise, argued that there was a delay of 5 days in filing the Tax Appeal and sought condonation on the grounds that sufficient cause was made out. The respondent, M/s Philip Carbon Black Ltd., was served notice, but no specific arguments were recorded on their behalf regarding the delay or the sufficiency of the cause presented by the applicant. The Court had to decide whether the applicant's explanation for the delay met the threshold for condonation.