2013 (10) TMI 1345

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..... or the Appellant. Shri Sanjay Jain, DR, for the Respondent. ORDER The appeal was preferred by the assessee against the order of the Commissioner (Appeals) dated 21-3-2012 rejecting the appeal. The adjudication order dated 20-7-2011 confirmed service tax demand of ₹ 4,84,126/- besides interest and penalties. 2. In this application condonation of a delay of 288 days in filing the appe .....

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..... 1 (Tri.-Del.). Following the judgment and observations of the Supreme Court in N. Balakrishnan v. M. Krishnamurthy - 2008 (228) E.L.T. 162 (S.C.), this Tribunal condoned a substantive delay of 364 days in preferring the appeal where the cause for the delay was pleaded to be that the excise officer of the company had misplaced the order under appeal and failed to inform a responsible officer of the .....

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..... The general norm that should guide the exercise of discretion in the matter of condonation of delay is the ascertainment of whether the litigant who seeks condonation has exhibited the necessary degree of diligence in pursuing what is a serious occupation i.e. litigation. While there are no upper or lower limits which could be considered for condonation, in all cases what is important is that the .....

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