18.1 The impugned Ruling has been passed by the GAAR on 17.09.2020. In the Form GST ARA-02 regarding Appeal to the Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling, at Sr.No.2, the appellant has shown the date of communication of the Advance Ruling as ‘ 05.10.2020 ’. We observe that the present appeal filed on 04.12.2020 has been filed after the prescribed time limit of 30 days from the date of communication of Ruling, which expired on 04/11/2020, as prescribed under Section 100(2) of the CGST Act, 2017. There has been a delay of 30 days. In the application for condonation of delay filed by the appellant alongwith the appeal, the appellant submitted that the delay has occurred on account of several bona fide reasons viz. Cov-d-19 pandemic and Diwali holidays and the resultant unavailability of staff, the process of finalizing the appeal and filing the appeal could not be completed on time. The appellant has requested to condone the delay in terms of proviso to Section 100(2) of CGST Act, 2017, wherein the appellate authority has been vested with power to condone delay upto 30 days if the appellant was prevented by a sufficient cause from presenting the appeal within thirty days of receipt of order. We find sufficient cause to condone the delay of 30 days in filing the appeal after expiry of appeal period on 04/11/2020.
