The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi ruled that filing of the case without vakalatnama, certified copy, affidavit would stop limitation.
The bench observed that the Delhi High Court in its judgment has laid down that initial filing, which can be termed only ‘bunch of papers’, cannot be treated as valid filing and the first date of filing has to be treated when the Appeal is refiled after clearing the defects.
The bench noted that non-compliance of Rule 22, sub-rule (2) has not been provided, nor any consequence has been provided in the Rules in the event Appeal is filed without accompanied by a certified copy of the order.
“When the power has been given to Court to extend the time or waive compliance of any rule, we have no doubt that the Appeal can be filed without applying a certified copy of the orders, in the facts and situation of a particular case”, the bench said.
The tribunal viewed that Appeal filed without applying for a certified copy of the order, cannot be dismissed on the ground that Appellant has not applied for certified copy of the order. When an Applicant does not apply for a certified copy of the order within the limitation prescribed, he is not entitled to seek any exclusion under Section 12 of the Limitation Act and it is the Applicant, who has to comply the limitation prescribed for filing an Appeal, but the mere fact that he has not applied for certified copy of the order, cannot be a ground for rejecting the Appeal.
Facts
The Application under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as the “IBC”) was filed by the Appellant seeking initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (“CIRP”) against Respondent No.1, alleging operational debt of Rs.4,75,70,047/- as on 05.01.2018. The Adjudicating Authority issued notice in the Application. The Respondent – Corporate Debtor appeared before the Adjudicating Authority and opposed the Application. The Adjudicating Authority after hearing both the parties by the impugned order dated 28.08.2023 dismissed Section 9 Application. Aggrieved by order dated 28.08.2023, the Appellant has e-filed this Appeal on 25.09.2023.
The case of the Applicant/ Respondent is that the Respondent filed a Caveat in respect of the impugned order dated 28.08.2023 on 13.09.2023. The Registry communicated the defects in the Appeal on 04.10.2023. The Appellant on 15.12.2023 refiled the Appeal, curing certain defects. The Appeal being still defective, certain defects were again communicated to the Appellant by the Registry on 03.01.2024.
Case Information
Case Name: Innovators Cleantech Pvt. Ltd. V/S Pasari Multi Projects Pvt. Ltd.
Judicial Level & Location : NCLAT New Delhi
Case Number : I.A. No. 1622 & 1623 of 2024 in Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No.115 of 2024
Date of Decision : 24/07/2024
Decision in favor of: Appellant
Judges: Justice Ashok Bhushan Chairperson and Barun Mitra Member (Technical)
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