Failure to seek leave to file an out-of-time Notice of Appeal

The Tribunal found that the Company had filed this Appeal without following due procedure. Section 12 as read with Section 13 of the TATA mandatorily required the Company to file a Notice of Appeal against KRA’s objection decision within 30 days of the decision. The Company therefore ran afoul of a mandatory step in the appeal process and was therefore susceptible to be struck out. The proper procedure open to the Company was to first move the Tribunal to have time extended for filing of the Notice of Appeal and should this prayer have been granted, it would proceed to file its Memorandum of Appeal and accompanying documents within 14 days of filing the Notice. The Appeal therefore violated sections 12(3) and 13(4) of the TATA. In the final analysis, the Company’s Appeal was struck out.