- (1.) In the petition the petitioner No. 1, a nationalised company, has challenged the order dated 19th December, 2005, passed by the Additional Director General of Foreign Trade, rejecting its appeal on the ground that it was grossly time-barred.
(2.) Heard learned Advocates for the parties.
(3.) The relevant portion of the order impugned is as follows :- "3. Aggrieved by the above mentioned order of the adjudicating authority, M/s. Tyre Corporation of India filed an appeal vide their letter dated 14.6.2003, which was received in this office on 26.6.2006. In terms of the provisions of section 15 of the Foreign Trade (D & R) Act, 1992, any person aggrieved by an order made by the adjudicating authority may prefer an appeal within a period of forty-five days from the date on which the decision or order is served on such person. But in this case the appeal has been filed after expiry of the said time limit. It is further provided in the section 15 of the Foreign Trade (D&R) Act, 1992 that in case of an appeal against a decision or order imposing a penalty, no such appeal shall be entertained unless the amount of penalty has been deposited by the appellant. This fact was also made clear by the adjudicating authority in Para 2 of his order dated 16.10.2003. But no predeposit of penalty has been received along with the appeal. 4]. The appellants were also given an opportunity of personal hearing on 14.12.2005. On that day Shri LN Banerjee, Manager appeared for personal hearing. He informed that the appellant firm is under BIFR and on this ground I decided to waive the condition of predeposit of penalty. But in respect of delay in filing the appeal he could not give satisfactory reasons. 5]. I have gone through the facts of the case available on record. In this case the appeal has been filed after expiry of the statutory time limit of 45 days and the appellants have also not submitted predeposit of penalty. Accordingly, in view of the powers vested in me in terms of provision of section 13 read with section 15 of the Foreign Trade (D&R) Act, 1992, the following order is made: ORDER No. 11/135/2003-04/ECA-1 December 19, 2005 The appeal is rejected because it is grossly time-barred. Addl. Director General of Foreign Trade" (Emphasis supplied);