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2017 (11) TMI 531 - HC - Central ExciseCondonation of delay - power of the Appellate Tribunal to invoke Section 14 of the Limitation Act - Sub-Section (2) of Section 35C - Held that: - the Apex Court in the case of Commissioner of Sales Tax, UP. Versus Madan Lal Das & Sons, Bareilly [1976 (9) TMI 135 - SUPREME COURT OF INDIA], where it was held that though Section 14 may not in terms apply to the quasi-judicial Tribunals, the principle of Section 14 based on advancing the cause of justice would certainly apply to exclude time taken by the applicant in prosecuting proceedings which are bona fide and with due diligence. The Apex Court in the case of M.P. Steel Corporation v. Commissioner of Central Excise [2015 (4) TMI 849 - SUPREME COURT] held that though a statue imposes embargo on the power of the Tribunal to condone the delay by providing that delay only upto the period of 60 days can be condoned, the time spent by the applicant in prosecuting wrong proceedings which are bona fide with due diligence can be excluded while computing the period of limitation. The Appellate Tribunal ought to have considered the issue whether the petitioners can be given benefit of the principles analogous to Sub-Section (2) of Section 14. Therefore, in the facts of the case, the matter will have to be remitted to the Appellate Tribunal for reconsideration of the prayer made by the petitioners for exclusion of time under (2) of Section 14. However, the number of factual aspects will have to be gone into - petition allowed by way of remand.
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