Idbi Bank Ltd vs Navsan Glass Industries Ltd

Present: For Appellant: Mr. Akshat Singh with Dacchita Shahi, Utkarsh Kandpal, Advocates For Respondent:

ORDER

(HYBRID MODE)

03.04.2025: Respondent has been served through publication also but

still has not appeared. Hence, proceeded ex-parte.

With the assistance of ld. Counsel for Appellant we take up this appeal

for final hearing.

2. This appeal is filed against an impugned order dated 16.07.2024

passed by ld. NCLT, Indore, Special Bench in CP(IB)/63/MP/2022 whereby

ld. NCLT has dismissed Section 7 petition filed by the Appellant herein on

the ground the application was time barred. It is the submission of the ld.

Counsel for Appellant a decree was passed on 10.05.2018 by the ld. DRT for

an amount of Rs. 21,32,34,009/- in favour of the Appellant herein and against

the Respondent and the period of limitation for Section 7 application would

have come to an end on 09.05.2021. The Appellant, admittedly, filed petition

u/s 7 on 12.09.2022.

3. It is the submission of ld. Counsel for the Appellant vide judgement

dated 10.01.2022 passed in suo moto Writ Petition(Civil) no. 3/2020 titled as

in RE-Cognizance for extension of limitation, the Hon'ble Supreme Court had

1 directed the period from 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 would stand excluded for

the purposes of calculating the period of limitation.

4. It is the submission of the ld. Counsel for Appellant the three years'

period would count to 1095 days and that till March 15.03.2020, only the

period of 675 days had expired and thus on 1.3.2022, 420 days were still left

to file the appeal and within the said period, i.e. on 12.9.22, the application

was filed u/s 7 before the ld. NCLT, hence, per judgement stated above the

petition u/s 7 was within limitation. This issue has also been dealt with by

this Tribunal in Mrs. Rita Kedia Vs. Ashika Global Securities Private

Limited & Ors. in CA(AT)(Ins.) No. 1536/23 wherein the following was held:-

"13. The Learned Counsel for the Appellant had

also raised defence regarding limitation. The

application under Section 7 of the IBC, 2016 was

filed on 30.05.2022. The Appellant itself as Director

of the Corporate Debtor had acknowledged the

debt in the ledger accounts of Financial Year 2016-

17, 2017- 18 and 2018-19 through confirmation of

accounts, including the last dated 01.04.2019

appearing at page 104 of the Appeal Paper Book.

The three year period, since the acknowledgement,

expired on 31.03.2022. However, as per the

direction of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in Suo Moto

Writ Petition No. 3 of 2020 decided on 10.01.2022,

the period from 15.03.2020 till 28.02.2022 is to be

2 excluded for counting of limitation under any law.

Excluding the said period, the present petition

under Section 7 was filed within the limitation

period by the Financial Creditor.

14. Considering the facts of this case, we find that

the Ld. NCLT has rightly admitted the Corporate

Debtor in CIRP on an application under Section 7 of

IBC, 2016 filed by the Financial Creditor. We do not

find any reason to interfere in the impugned order

of Ld. NCLT. The appeal, devoid of merit, is

dismissed. All related IAs, if pending, are closed.

No order as to costs".

5. Considering the above, the impugned order dated 16.07.2024 needs to

be set aside since it has not calculated the period of limitation per above

judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court.

6. In view of the above, the appeal is allowed. Impugned order is set aside.

The application u/s 7 of IBC be now taken up by ld. NCLT and be proceeded

with as per law. All pending applications are disposed of.

[Justice Yogesh Khanna] Member (Judicial)

[Mr. Ajai Das Mehrotra] Member (Technical) ss/manu

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