TMI Blog2014 (8) TMI 673X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... ith interest and penalty of equal amount imposed on them, but he did not endorse the copy of the adjudication order. Since on that day, the appellant had not received the order, after waiting for sometime, they addressed a letter on 13/04/12 to the Range office informing him that the order had not been received and with a request to supply the same. Moreover, in this case when on 13/04/12, the appellant had informed the Department that the order had not been received and if the order had been supplied forthwith, the appellant would have been able to file the appeal within time, but this was not done. In view of this, I hold that the date of receipt has to be treated as 18/06/12 and if the limitation period is counted from this date, the ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... the Range office letter dated 16/03/12 has not been received by them and requested him to provide a duplicate copy. There is no dispute that this letter was received in the Range office on 16/04/12. It appears that Xerox copy of the adjudication order was provided to the appellant only on 18/06/12, as is clear from the endorsement on the last page of the order-in-original. The appeal to Commissioner (Appeals) was filed by the appellant on 17/08/12. The Commissioner (Appeals) vide order-in-appeal dated 19/03/13 dismissed the appeal as time barred without going into the merits on the ground that the order would have been received by the appellant in March 2012 while the appeal has been filed by them on 17/08/12 and, as such, delay in filing o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Section 37C (1) of the Central Excise Act, as in terms of the provisions of this Section 37C (1) the order is to be served on the assessee or his agent by sending it by RPAD or by other modes of service specified in Section 37C ibid, that same view has been taken by Hon ble Punjab Haryana High Court in the case of CCE, Ludhiana vs. Best Dyeing reported in 2011 (271) E.L.T. 518 (P H), that in this case while the impugned order-in-original was passed on 16/03/12, on the same day, the Jurisdictional Range Officer had addressed a letter to the appellant for recovery of the adjudicated liability which had been received by the appellant on that day itself, that since the appellant had not received the order-in-original on that day, after waiti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... s of Section 35C of the Central Excise Act regarding mode of delivery of the order, Hon ble High Court has held that registered post and speed post are the same method of service and the object of sending by registered post is to keep record which is also served by sending the order/notice by speed post through the same agency, that same view has been taken by Tribunal in the case of Industrial Enterprises vs. CCE, Kanpur reported in 2009 (234) E.L.T. 452 (Tri. Del.), that since in this case the order had been dispatched on 16/03/12 by speed post, it is presumed to have been served on the appellant and, hence, the appeal filed by the appellant is time barred. He also pleaded that delay in filing of appeal is beyond 30 days which cannot be ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... t forthwith the duty demand of ₹ 20,42,197/- confirmed against the appellant alongwith interest and penalty of equal amount imposed on them, but he did not endorse the copy of the adjudication order. Since on that day, the appellant had not received the order, after waiting for sometime, they addressed a letter on 13/04/12 to the Range office informing him that the order had not been received and with a request to supply the same. This letter was received in Range office on 16/04/12. If the copy of the order had been supplied on that day itself i.e. on 16/04/12, the appellant would have been able to file the appeal within time. But the Xerox copy of the order was given only on 18/06/12 when the appellant approached the concerned offic ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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