IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT : THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR.H.L.DATTU & THE HONOURABLE MR. JUSTICE A.K.BASHEER WEDNESDAY, THE 3RD SEPTEMBER 2008 / 12TH BHADRA 1930 ST.Rev..No. 442 of 2006 ----------------------------------------- (ORDER DATED 30.10.2002 IN TA.No.53/2002 OF KERALA AGRICULTURAL INCOME TAX AND SALES TAX APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, ADDL.BENCH KOTTAYAM (ASSESSEMENT YEAR 1996-1997) .................... REVISION PETITIONER/APPELLANT: ------------------------------------------------- N.SIVAKUMAR, NARAYANA BHAVAN, PUTHIYAKAVU, MAVELIKKARA, ALAPPUZHA DISTRICT. BY ADV. SRI.V.P.SUKUMAR RESPONDENT/ RESPONDENT: ------------------------------------------- STATE OF KERALA, REPRESENTED BY THE CHIEF SECRETARY, SECRETARIAT, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM. BY SENIOR GOVERNMENT PLEADER SRI.MUHAMMED RAFIQ. THIS SALES TAX REVISION HAVING COME UP FOR ORDERS ON 03/09/2008, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY PASSED THE FOLLOWING: H.L.DATTU, C.J. & A.K.BASHEER, J. ------------------------------------------------------ S.T.Rev.No.442 of 2006 & C.M.ApplN.No.1024 of 2006 --------------------------------------------- Dated, this the 3rd day of September, 2008 O R D E R H.L.Dattu, C.J. The petitioner, being aggrieved by the orders passed by the Kerala Agricultural Income Tax and Sales Tax Appellate Tribunal, Additional Bench, Kottayam in T.A.No.53 of 2002 dated 30th October, 2002, is before us in this revision petition. (2) In filing the revision petition there is a delay of 1047 days. To condone the said delay, C.M.Appln.No.1024 of 2006 is filed under Section 5 of the Limitation Act. Along with the said application an affidavit is filed before us. In the said affidavit, at paragraph 2 it is stated as under: “The order passed by the Tribunal was received in the Office of my Counsel on 28.8.2003. As such the ST Revision case ought to have been filed on or before 27.10.2003. After the business was stopped in 1996 due to serious financial difficulties I had no means for livelihood and therefore in February, 2003 I left for Tamilnadu seeking employment and was living there doing petty jobs. When the order passed by the Tribunal was received in the Office of my Counsel I was not in Kerala. Though the S.T.Rev.No.442 of 2006 -2- counsel tried to contact me in my Mavelikkara address he could not contact me as I was out of station. Ultimately I came to know of the order passed by the Tribunal when I enquired in the Office of my Counsel on 30.09.2006. By that time the time for filing the ST Revision had already expired. As on today there is delay of 1047 days in filing the revision. It is humbly submitted that the delay is not at all deliberate. I am a poverty stricken person and unless the delay is condoned I will be subjected to severe hardships. I am filing a separate petition for that purpose.” (3) The explanation offered by the petitioner for condonation of the delay in filing the Sales Tax Revision case is wholly unsatisfactory. Therefore, the delay in filing the revision petition cannot be condoned by us. Accordingly the application for condonation of delay requires to be rejected and it is rejected. (4) Consequently the revision petition is also rejected. Ordered accordingly. (H.L.DATTU) CHIEF JUSTICE (A.K.BASHEER) JUDGE MS