Date of dispatch of notice alone relevant for calculating limitation under Customs Act: Madras High Court

The Madras High Court has held that it is a settled position of law that the date of dispatch of a notice alone should be taken into account for deciding limitation in a dispute under the Customs Act and not date of delivery of such notice [M/s Lalchand Bhimraj v The Customs, Excise and Service Tax Appellate Tribunal]..A bench of Justices R Mahadevan and Sathya Narayana Prasad made the observation while dismissing a petition which had challenged show cause notices issued to the petitioner who had claimed that the notices were barred by limitation.“This court is of the view that if the date of despatch of notices is taken into consideration, the notices served on the petitioner are within the period of limitation,” the division bench held..Further, reliance was placed on a decision of the Supreme Court in Commissioner of Central Excise, New Delhi v Hari Chand Shri Gopal where the doctrine of substantial compliance and its intended use were discussed.“In cases where substantial compliance has been found, there has been actual compliance with the statute, albeit procedurally faulty”, the top court’s judgment had said..The petitioner was subjected to customs duty on certain imported goods, which was paid. However, they were issued with show cause notices under the Customs Act.The petitioner contended that the notices were barred by limitation since Section 28 of the Act stipulated that a show cause notices for non-levy of anti-dumping duty must be served on the person chargeable with such duty within six months..The respondents on the other hand, told the Court that the demand notices were dispatched well within the six-month period, and this was enough for compliance with the requirement under the Act..On hearing both counsel, the Court took note of the fact that there was no dispute regarding the date of payment and that of expiration of limitation, the only dispute was regarding the date of delivery.However, the bench opined that only the date of dispatch was relevant and thus, it was rightly held that the notices were issued within the period of limitation.With this, the petitions were dismissed..Advocate J. Sivanandaraaj appeared for the petitioner, while the respondents were represented by Senior Standing Counsel T Pramod Kumar Chopda..[Read Order]