Commissioner Of Central GST And Central Excise J And K Jammu vs. M/S Kashmir Steel Rolling Mills Sidco Industrial Complex Bari Brahmana Jammu J And K

Held

The Court held that the appeal was barred by limitation. The Court noted that a similar issue regarding condonation of delay had been raised in a previous appeal, CEA No. 10/2020. In that case, the Division Bench of the High Court had dismissed the appeal as barred by limitation. The Court found that the grounds for condonation of delay in the present appeal were identical to those urged in the previous case. Therefore, applying the ratio decidendi of the earlier judgment, the Court dismissed the present appeal along with all connected applications as being barred by limitation. No specific amount in dispute was mentioned.

Facts

The Commissioner of Central GST and Central Excise (J&K) Jammu filed an appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, against an order dated 06.03.2018 passed by CESTAT Chandigarh. The appeal was delayed by 1511 days, and the appellant sought condonation of this delay. The appellant's counsel acknowledged that a similar issue regarding delay condonation had arisen in a previous appeal, CEA No. 10/2020, which was dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court on grounds of limitation. The present appeal was filed against M/s Kashmir Steel Rolling Mills SIDCO.

Key Issues

1. Whether the delay of 1511 days in filing the appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, is liable to be condoned. The petitioner argued that the delay was attributable to administrative reasons and sought condonation. The respondent did not file any arguments. The Court had to decide whether the grounds presented for the delay were sufficient to overcome the significant delay and the precedent set by a previous Division Bench ruling.