Commissioner Of Central GST And Central Excise Jammu vs. M/S Emcure Pharmaceuticals LTD 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 delayed by 1095 days, and the Commissioner filed an application for condonation of this delay. The learned counsel for the Commissioner acknowledged that a similar issue had arisen in a previous appeal, CEA No. 10/2020, where the appellant had sought condonation of delay on similar grounds. However, the Division Bench of the High Court had dismissed that appeal as barred by limitation.

Held

The Court held that the appeal was barred by limitation. It noted that a similar issue regarding condonation of delay on similar grounds had been considered by a Division Bench of the High Court in CEA No. 10/2020. In that case, the Court had dismissed the appeal as barred by limitation. Applying the same reasoning, the present appeal, CEA No. 17/2023, was also dismissed for being barred by limitation. The operative direction was the dismissal of the appeal.

Key Issues

1. Whether the delay of 1095 days in filing the appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, can be condoned. The petitioner argued for condonation of delay, citing similar grounds as in a previous case. The respondent (M/s Emxure Pharmaceuticals Ltd) did not record any arguments in the judgment. The Court had to decide if the grounds presented were sufficient to overcome the significant delay, especially in light of a prior, similar dismissal by the same Court.