Commissioner Of Central GST And Central Excise J And K Jammu vs. M/S Krishi Rasayan Exports PVT LTD Igc Samba J And K

Held

The Court held that the appeal was barred by limitation. The reasoning was based on a previous decision by a Division Bench of the same High Court in CEA No. 10/2020, which dealt with a similar issue of delay condonation on identical grounds. The Court found that the principles laid down in that earlier judgment applied directly to the present case. Therefore, the delay condonation application was not accepted, and consequently, the appeal itself was dismissed as being barred by limitation. The operative direction was the dismissal of the appeal and all connected applications. No issues were expressly left undecided.

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 a final order dated 06.03.2018 passed by CESTAT Chandigarh. The appeal was delayed by 1496 days, and a separate application was filed seeking condonation of this delay. The appellant's counsel acknowledged that a similar issue had arisen in a previous appeal, CEA No. 10/2020, where the delay condonation application was dismissed by a Division Bench of the High Court on similar grounds. The present appeal was accordingly dismissed as barred by limitation, along with all connected applications.

Key Issues

1. Whether the delay of 1496 days in filing the appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, should be condoned. Petitioner's Arguments: The petitioner sought condonation of delay, urging similar grounds as in a previous case (CEA No. 10/2020). Revenue's Arguments: The judgment does not record any specific arguments made by the revenue or state. However, the context implies the revenue (petitioner in this appeal) was seeking condonation of delay.