Shyam Steel Co Vs Commissioner of Central Tax (Calcutta High Court)
The Calcutta High Court allowed a statutory appeal filed under Section 35G of the Central Excise Act, 1944, and condoned a delay of 2262 days in filing an appeal before the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT). The appeal challenged an interim order of the Tribunal dated 14.05.2024, by which the Tribunal had refused to condone the delay and had summarily dismissed the appeal on the ground of “total negligence.”
The delay arose because the statutory limitation to file the appeal expired on 10.04.2018, whereas the appeal was ultimately filed only on 28.03.2024. The appellant explained this delay by stating that it had opted to pursue resolution under the Sabka Vishwas (Legacy Dispute Resolution) Scheme, 2019 (SVLDRS), and had filed an application under the scheme on 18.12.2019. According to the appellant, it remained under a bona fide belief that the dispute would be resolved under the scheme and came to know of the rejection of its application only in late 2023.
The Tribunal declined to condone the delay primarily on two grounds: first, that the period between April 2018 and December 2019 was unexplained, and second, that the rejection of the SVLDRS application was available on a public portal from 20.01.2020, making the plea of ignorance untenable.
