The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (“NCLAT”) on August 24, 2022 in the matter of Wadhwa Rubber v. Bandex Packaging Pvt. Ltd. held that the limitation is to be counted from the date of preparation of the certified copy and not from the date of delivery of the certified copy.

In the instant matter an appeal was filed against an order of the Adjudicating Authority, dismissing a petition filed by Wadhwa Rubber (“Appellant”) under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“IBC”) seeking initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (“CIRP”) against the Corporate Debtor. The Appellant applied for the certified copy of the order, almost after a year. The Appellant contended that the reason why appeal could not be filed within 30 days from the date of Impugned Order was because a copy of the Impugned Order which is to be given free of cost was not supplied. Therefore, the certified copy was applied and when it was delivered, the appeal was filed which is within limitation.

The Bench observed that it is well settled that the limitation is to be counted not from the date of delivery of the certified copy but from the date of preparation of the certified copy. It was further observed that:

“It cannot be imagined that the dismissal of the petition was not within the knowledge of the Appellant who was represented by the Counsel. Despite that, the Appellant did not care to apply for the certified copy for over a year and has made a lame excuse that it was to be supplied free of cost. However, the certified copy appears to have been applied on 10.02.2021 and was prepared on 17.02.2021 but the Appellant spent almost two months even in taking the certified copy from the Tribunal.”

Thus, the Bench dismissed the appeal and held that it is barred by limitation in view of Section 61 of IBC, which provides a period of 30 days to file appeal and an additional period of 15 days based on the discretion of Appellate Authority to condone delay only on being satisfied that there is a sufficient cause.