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2020 (2) TMI 1440 - CESTAT BANGALORECondonation of delay of 3666 days in filing the present appeal - appellant submitted that there is no intentional delay in filing the appeal because for the subsequent period the appeal is still pending before the Tribunal and in respect of another period the appeal has been allowed also - HELD THAT:- Admittedly the appeal was filed after an inordinate delay of 3666 days. The reasons given for such a long delay are that the officer who was dealing with the legal affairs has since resigned. Further the appellant engaged an Advocate Shri Frankur D. Jayan whom all the papers were handed over along with his fees and the said Advocate prepared the draft of the appeal. The said draft prepared by the Shri Frankur D. Jayan has also been filed on record, which shows that the appeal was drafted by the said Advocate but the same was not filed in the Tribunal - in the present case there is no deliberate and intentional delay on the part of the appellant because for the subsequent period the appellant has filed the appeal which is still pending and had they knew about the non-filing the earlier appeal they would have filed the same also. Further, it is a settled law that the assessee should not suffer on account of the mistake of the Advocate. Admittedly there is negligence on the part of the appellant to follow up the matter with concerned Advocate. For their negligence we can impose cost on them but dismissing the appeal would cause irreparable loss and hardship to the appellant - the delay is condoned subject to payment of cost of ₹ 30,000/- - application allowed.
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