2017 (10) TMI 1375 - AT - Central Excise

Condonation of delay of 1233 days in filing Appeal before this forum - Appellant has submitted that the Commercial Manager looking after the Excise and Customs work who had been with the Company since 2010, did not inform the Management about the receipt of the said order - Held that - Undisputedly, the order has been delivered to the Appellant on 27.7.2013 but the plea of the Appellant is that the Management has not been communicated by the Commercial Manager of the Company who dealt with the Central Excise and Service Tax matters and continued to be in employment thereafter for three years. It is unacceptable logic and cannot appeal to the sense of a man ordinary prudence that the Commercial manager has not communicated the order for more than three years till he left the job on 14.3.2016 and the company did not take action against him for his negligence thereafter. Delay can be condoned if sufficient cause explaining the delay is demonstrated. The application being devoid of merit is accordingly dismissed.

Summary

Issues:
Delay of 1233 days in filing Appeal before the forum.

Analysis:
The judgment deals with an application seeking condonation of a 1233-day delay in filing an appeal before the forum. The appellant received the Order-in-Appeal on 24.7.2013 but filed the appeal only on 20.2.2017. The appellant's advocate explained that the delay was due to the Commercial Manager's negligence in informing the management about the order. The Commercial Manager, who was responsible for Central Excise and Service Tax matters, failed to notify the management until they received a recovery letter from the Department in February 2017. The appellant's argument was that the delay was beyond their control due to the employee's negligence.

The Revenue's representative argued that the delay of 1233 days was inexcusable and the reasons provided were insufficient for condonation. The appellant was accused of shifting the blame to the employee and not taking responsibility for the delay. The Revenue contended that negligence on the part of the management was not a valid reason for such a significant delay in filing the appeal.

The judgment emphasized that the order was received by the appellant on 27.7.2013, and the appellant claimed that the Commercial Manager failed to communicate the order for over three years until leaving the job in March 2016. The tribunal found this explanation unreasonable and lacking in merit. Citing the principles established by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in a specific case, the tribunal dismissed the application for condonation of delay. Consequently, the appeal was also dismissed due to the lack of a valid and sufficient cause for the significant delay in filing.