Government departments are under a special obligation to ensure diligence and commitment in filing appeals, and condonation of delay should not be used as an anticipated benefit for government departments.

JUDGMENT

Vibhu Bakhru, J.

1. The appellant has filed the present appeal impugning an order dated 06.07.2018 passed by the Customs, Excise & Service Tax Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi in Appeal No.ST/53655/2015. The appellant states that the said order was received on 23.07.2018. The present appeal was filed on 31.05.2019, almost 10 months after the receipt of the impugned order.

2. The appellant had also filed an application seeking condonation of delay, stating that the delay 'is due to misplacement of some of the file papers in the office which were recovered later on and the matter further got delayed due to oversight and inadvertence.' Apart from the aforesaid, no other reason for condoning the delay was mentioned in the application (CM. APPL. 9867/2022). Further, the application also did not specify the period of delay. Since the prayer clause of the said clause did not specify the number of days of delay, which the appellant prayed for being condoned, the appellant was given an opportunity to file a better application.

3. Thereafter, the appellant filed another application (CM NO.33370/2022) further improving the reasons as stated in the first application. The reasons for seeking condonation of delay as stated in the said application are set out below:

"3. That the delay which has occurred in filling the appeal is due misplacement of some of the file papers in the office of the counsel which were recovered later on and the matter further got delayed due oversight and inadvertence.

4. That upon the receipt of the aforesaid impugned order in the office of the appellant, the same was then sent to the Review Branch for taking a decision as to whether the said order has to be challenge/appeal against or note. The review branch, after carefully going through entire case and after analyzing the legal position, came to a conclusion that the impugned order passed by the Ld. Tribunal deserved to be challenged before this Hon'ble Court and thereafter the appeal papers were sent to the counsel for the appellant.

5. That, owing to the bulky nature of the appeal, some papers were inadvertently left out when the matter was handed over to the counsel for the appellant and thereafter upon a request being made by the counsel to the department for complete transmission for the filed on 23.01.2019, the appellant department sent the complete records vide mail on 25.01.2019. Thereafter copies of orders relied upon by the Ld. Tribunal in the impugned judgment were also sought for and which was later on provided by the appellant department to the counsel. The status as to whether the relied upon judgment had been appealed against or not or whether it had attained finality or not was also ascertained by the counsel and in which process was some time was lost."

4. Although the appellant had somewhat improved its explanation for the reasons which had led to the delay in filing the present appeal, it is apparent that the same were also wanting in particulars.

5. It is well settled that each day of delay in filing is to be explained. In the present case, there are large gaps in the time period for which no ostensible reason has been provided.

6. The appellant has not only delayed in filing the present appeal but there is also an unexplained and inordinate delay in re-filing the appeal. The above captioned appeal was filed on 31.05.2019. It was returned under objection on 10.06.2019. This was because the court fee was missing and the title was incorrect, apart from other defects. The defects were not cured for more than two months thereafter. The appeal was re-filed on 19.08.2019, however, the same was still defective. It is material to note that the appellant had not filed a hard copy as required. Thus, the appeal was retuned on 20.08.2019. Thereafter, there was complete inaction for more than two years and five months. Even if the period commencing from 15.03.2020 is excluded on account of disruption caused due to outbreak of covid 19. There was a