Facts of the Case

The Commissioner of Central GST and Central Excise, Jammu & Kashmir, filed an appeal under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, against a final order dated 6 March 2018 passed by the Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT), Chandigarh, in favour of the respondent, Jai Bharat Crop Chemical Pvt. Ltd.

The appeal was filed after a delay of 1,487 days from the CESTAT order, and the appellant Department accordingly filed a separate application seeking condonation of this delay.

Counsel for the Department fairly conceded that an identical issue on similar facts had arisen in an earlier appeal, CEA No. 10 of 2020, where the Division Bench of the same High Court had declined to condone a comparable delay and dismissed that appeal as time-barred, by order dated 23 May 2022.

Issues Involved

  1. Whether the Department's explanation for the 1,487-day delay in filing the appeal against the CESTAT order was sufficient to warrant condonation.

Petitioner's Arguments

  • The Department, through its counsel, candidly acknowledged that the facts and grounds for seeking condonation of delay were similar to those already considered and rejected in CEA No. 10 of 2020.

Respondent's Arguments

  • No independent submission from the respondent is recorded; the appeal was disposed of on the basis of the appellant's own concession that its case was on all fours with the earlier rejected application.

Court Order / Findings

  • The Division Bench held that its reasoning in the earlier order dated 23 May 2022 in CEA No. 10 of 2020 applied on all fours to the delay-condonation application in this case.
  • Accordingly, the appeal was dismissed as barred by limitation, along with all connected applications.

Important Clarification

This is a Central Excise Act matter, not a GST-law decision — it concerns the limitation period for filing a Revenue appeal against a CESTAT order under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, applying an earlier precedent of the same Bench verbatim. The takeaway for tax authorities and assessees alike is procedural: courts strictly enforce appeal-filing timelines even for the Revenue, and a large delay (here, over four years) without a compelling fresh justification will not be condoned merely by citing the passage of time.

Sections Involved

  • Central Excise Act, 1944 — Section 35G, under which the appeal was filed, and the core statute governing the dispute.
  • Limitation Act, 1963 — general principles on condonation of delay, applied by analogy.

Decision – In Favour of

Decided against the appellant (Commissioner of Central GST and Central Excise, J&K) — the appeal was dismissed as time-barred, in favour of the respondent, Jai Bharat Crop Chemical Pvt. Ltd.

Case Details

  • Court: High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh at Jammu
  • Case No.: CEA No. 51 of 2023 (also referred in the order's operative paragraph as CEA No. 12 of 2023)
  • Coram: Chief Justice N. Kotiswar Singh and Justice Wasim Sadiq Nargal
  • Date of Order: 24 April 2023

Link to Download the Order

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