The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal ( CESTAT ) in Ahmedabad has made a significant ruling clarifying that the limitation period to file an appeal begins from the date of acknowledgment of the order, not from the date of dispatch. Mr. Rithik Jain, Advocate representing the appellant, submitted that the Commissioner, based on a report from the Adjudicating Authority, deemed the appeal belatedly filed after 90 days. Additionally, while the dispatch of the order was confirmed, there was no proof of acknowledgment. Consequently, the Commissioner ( Appeal ) erroneously rejected the appeal as time-barred. Mr. Jain further contended that the appellant received the order copy only on 13.01.2020, and subsequently filed the appeals before the Commissioner ( Appeal ) on 28.02.2020, well within the standard 60-day period.

The bench, comprising Ramesh Nair (Judicial Member) and Raju (Technical Member), noted that while there was evidence of the department dispatching the order to the appellant, there was no proof of acknowledgment. In accordance with appeal provisions, the time limit commences from the communication of the order, not its dispatch. Since there was no evidence of the order being communicated, the date on which the department provided the copy of the orders-in-original to the appellant was considered the date of communication. Consequently, the appeals before the Commissioner ( Appeal ) were deemed not time-barred. Accordingly, the tribunal allowed the appeals and annulled the rejection orders.