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Amina Bi Kaskar (D) Thr. Lr. v. Union of India

Civil Appeal · 2018 INSC 381Decided 20 Apr 2018
Civil Appeal No. 4252 of 2018
Justice R.K. Agrawal · Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre

Background

The Competent Authority under SAFEMA ordered forfeiture of certain properties belonging to the appellants in 1998. The appellants appealed to the Appellate Tribunal for Forfeited Property, but did so 81 days after being served the order, well beyond the 45-day limitation period and even beyond the outer 60-day limit up to which delay could be condoned. The Tribunal dismissed the appeals as time-barred, and both the High Court's Single Judge and Division Bench upheld that dismissal.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court examined the appellants' own admission in their Tribunal filings that they had received the forfeiture order on 29-30 July 1998, which fixed the start of the limitation period. Since the appeal was filed on the 81st day, beyond the Tribunal's power to condone delay (capped at 60 days under SAFEMA), the Court held the question of whether service of the order was technically proper was irrelevant once actual knowledge was admitted. The Court found this was a concurrent finding of fact by the Tribunal and both levels of the High Court, which was neither illegal nor perverse, and therefore declined to interfere. The appeals were dismissed.

Lesson Learnt

Statutory limitation periods for appeals, especially where the law fixes an outer limit beyond which delay cannot be condoned at all, are strictly enforced, once a person admits to having actual knowledge of an order, technical objections about the manner of its service will not revive a time-barred appeal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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