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2014 (4) TMI 220 - AT - Service TaxCondonation of delay - appeal before the appellate Commissioner. - Commissioner denied condonation on the basis that the he has no power to condone delay - Held that:- appeal if presented within a further period of 3 calendar months, beyond the initial period of three months specified in Section 85(3) and in terms of the proviso thereto, would fall within the discretionary ambit of the Commissioner (Appeals), liable for consideration. In seeking condition of delay, the appellant provided not clear and cogent grounds for seeking condonation except stating that the appellants representative was out of station. - On this factual matrix, the appellant herein had failed to make out a case for condonation. There are, however, several decisions, which postulate the principle that a liberal view must be taken while considering an application for condonation of delay and that even where no wholly satisfactory cause is pleaded, the appellate court is not denuded of the discretion to condone the delay but on the terms as to costs. As the impugned order has rejected the appeal as a consequence of rejection of the application for condonation of delay, we refrain from going into the substantive merits of the appeal. Suffice it to notice that prima facie, the appellant herein appears to have an eminently arguable case on merits, to be presented before the Commissioner (Appeals), though the appeal was filed with delay not wholly explained satisfactorily - Delay condoned conditionally.
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