CUSTOMS, EXCISE & SERVICE TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL ALLAHABAD REGIONAL BENCH - COURT NO.II (Arising out of Order-in-Appeal No.115/ST/Appl/Alld/2025 dated 17/07/2025 passed by Commissioner (Appeals) Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax, Allahabad)

Pro.Ms. Usha Singh, …..Appellant (Renu Sagar, Sone Bhadra-231218)

VERSUS Commissioner of Central Excise &

CGST, Allahabad ….Respondent (38, M.G. Marg, Civil Lines, Allahabad=211001)

APPEARANCE Shri Madhukar Anand, Advocate &

Shri Ranjeet Kumar, Advocate for the Appellant Smt Chitra Srivastava, Authorised Representative for the Respondent CORAM: HON’BLE MR. SANJIV SRIVASTAVA, MEMBER (TECHNICAL)

FINAL ORDER NO.70140/2026 DATE OF HEARING : 04 May, 2026 DATE OF DECISION : 04 May, 2026 SANJIV SRIVASTAVA:

This appeal is directed against Order-in-Appeal No.115/ST/Appl/Alld/2025 dated 17/07/2025 passed by Commissioner (Appeals) Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax, Allahabad. By the impugned order following has been held:- “Before going to the merit of the issue some relevant provisions are required to be dealt. In this regard it is observed that under Section 85(3A) of the Act -

An appeal shall be presented within two months from the date of receipt of the decision or order of such adjudicating authority, made on and after the Finance Bill 2012 receives the assent of the President, relating to service tax, interest or penalty under the Chapter:

Provided that the Commissioner of Central Excise (Appeals) may, if he is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within the aforesaid period of two months, allow it to be presented within a further period of one month.

Further as per Rule 8 of Rule-

(1) An appeal under Section 85 of the Act to the [Commissioner] of Central Excise (Appeals) shall be in Form ST-4.

(2) The appeal shall be filed in duplicate and shall be accompanied by a copy of order appealed against.

Section 35F of the Central Excise Act 1944 states that certain percentage of duty demanded or penalty imposed has to be deposited before filing appeal. The relevant portion of the same is given as under-

The Tribunal or the Commissioner (Appeals), as the case may be, shall not entertain any appeal-

(i) under sub-section (1) of Section 35, unless the appellant has deposited seven and a half per cent of the duty, in case where duty or duty and penalty are in dispute, or penalty, where such penalty is in dispute, in pursuance of a decision or an order passed by an officer of Central Excise lower in rank than the Principal Commissioner of Central Excise or Commissioner of Central Excise;

(ii) against the decision or order referred to in clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 35-B, unless the appellant has deposited seven and a half per cent of the duty, in case where duty or duty and penalty are in dispute, or penalty, where such penalty is in dispute, in pursuance of the decision or order appealed against;

(iii) against the decision or order referred to in clause (b) of sub-section (1) of Section 35-B, unless the appellant has deposited ten per cent of the duty, in case where duty or duty and penalty are in dispute, or penalty, where such penalty is in dispute, in pursuance of the decision or order appealed against:

Provided that the amount required to be deposited under this section shall not exceed Rupees Ten crores:

Provided further that the provisions of this section shall not apply to the stay applications and appeals pending before any appellate authority prior to the commencement of the Finance (No. 2) Act, 2014.

5.2 I have carefully gone through the case records, and find that the appeal has been filed on 27.06.2024 व्यापित against the impugned order dated 25.09.2023. The appellant in the ground of appeal has submitted the date of communication of impugned order to be on 13.06.2024. In order to ascertain to status of communication the letter dated 08.07.2025 was written to the jurisdictional formation to intimate the mode/medium/acknowledgment of communi