Commissioner Of Central GST And Central Excise Jammu vs. Sds Remcides Crop Science PVT LTD Industrial Complex Bari Brahmana Jammu

Facts

The Commissioner of CGST and Central Excise, Jammu, filed an appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, against an order dated March 6, 2018, passed by CESTAT Chandigarh. The appeal was filed with a delay of 1450 days, for which a separate application for condonation of delay was submitted. The appellant's counsel conceded that a similar issue had been dealt with in CEA No. 10/2020, where the grounds for condonation of delay were identical. In that prior case, the Division Bench of the High Court had dismissed the appeal as being barred by limitation.

Held

The Court held that the appeal was barred by limitation. The reasoning was based on the fact that a similar appeal, CEA No. 10/2020, with identical grounds for condonation of delay, had been dismissed by a Division Bench of the same High Court on 23.05.2022. The Court found that the present case applied 'on all fours' to the precedent. Therefore, the application for condonation of delay was not accepted, and consequently, the appeal itself was dismissed. The operative direction was the dismissal of the appeal. No issues were expressly left undecided.

Key Issues

1. Whether the delay of 1450 days in filing the appeal should be condoned. This issue turns on the interpretation and application of principles governing condonation of delay in filing appeals. The petitioner argued that the delay should be condoned, but did not provide specific grounds in the provided text beyond acknowledging the delay and the existence of a similar prior case. The respondent's arguments are not recorded. The Court's decision was based on a precedent set in a similar case.