Hira Lal Prasad Vs Commissioner of Customs (Prev.) (CESTAT Kolkata)
The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) in Kolkata recently ruled in the case of Hira Lal Prasad vs Commissioner of Customs (Prev.). The case centered on a dispute regarding the date on which a Customs order was served to the appellant, which impacted the timeliness of his appeal. The appellant had filed an appeal with the Commissioner (Appeals) on April 5, 2021, against an Order-in-Original dated September 20, 2019. The appellant claimed that he had not received the original order and only became aware of its existence after receiving a letter for arrears recovery on June 29, 2020. Following this, he requested and received an attested copy of the order from the Assistant Commissioner on March 8, 2021. The appeal was filed within a month of receiving this attested copy.
However, the Commissioner (Appeals) had dismissed the appeal, viewing it as a delay of approximately 17 months. The Commissioner’s reasoning was that the original order had been served on September 20, 2019, and that his authority to condone delays was limited to 30 days beyond the normal appeal period, as per Section 35 of the Central Excise Act, 1944.
