Spice Retails Limited Vs Sales Tax Officer And Others (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court permitted the appellant to withdraw the appeals with liberty to file fresh appeals before the appellate authority. The appellant relied on an earlier Division Bench judgment in MAT No. 783 of 2017, where similar relief had been granted with directions that appeals filed before the appellate authority should not be rejected on the ground of limitation if the conditions under Section 84(1) were satisfied. The Court noted that the present appeals had originally been filed before the High Court not only on merits but also challenging the vires of certain statutory provisions.
Since the issue relating to vires had subsequently been settled by earlier judgments of the Court, the appellant restricted the challenge only to the merits of the case, which could appropriately be raised before the appellate authority. The Court held that the period during which the appeals remained pending before the High Court should not be considered while calculating limitation. Accordingly, the appeals and connected applications were dismissed as withdrawn with liberty to file fresh appeals on the same grounds except the vires challenge. The appellate authority was directed to consider the benefit of Section 14 of the Limitation Act while examining limitation. No order as to costs was passed.
