Snehal Upadhyay –
Published on: September 15, 2021 at 10:10 IST
The Supreme Court has stated in its judgement that the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has no jurisdiction to overlook the delay which is exceeding 15 days from the period of 30 days, as anticipated in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) under Section 61(2).
In the aforementioned case, the appeal which came before the NCLAT was filed with a delay of 44 days beyond a total period of 45 days.
Making a reference to sub-section (2) of Section 61 of the IBC which states powers to the Appellate Tribunal to allow the delay of only 15 days which it can accept over the period of 30 days if there is a sufficient cause, the Appellate Tribunal dismissed an appeal.
The Division Bench comprising Justices MR Shah and Aniruddha Bose with mentioning provisions of IBC observed that “The appeal preferred before the NCLAT was under Section 61(2) of the IB Code. As per Section 61(2) of the IB Code, the appeal was required to be preferred within a period of thirty days. Therefore, the limitation period prescribed to prefer an appeal was 30 days. However, as per the proviso to Section 61(2) of the Code, the Appellate Tribunal may allow an appeal to be filed after the expiry of the said period of 30 days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing the appeal, but such period shall not exceed 15 days. Therefore, the Appellate Tribunal has no jurisdiction at all to condone the delay exceeding 15 days from the period of 30 days, as contemplated under Section 61(2) of the IB Code.”
The Court also cited a Constitutional Bench judgement in the case of New India Assurance Company Limited v. Hilli Multipurpose Cold Storage Private.
The Bench denied the request to allow the delay in exercise of the power granted under Article 142 of the Constitution of India.
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