Regional Provident Fund Commissioner ... vs Bijay Murmuria & Ors
- CitationCompany Appeal(AT) (Insolvency) No. 541 of 2020
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
Under Section 61(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, an appeal to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal must be filed within thirty days of the impugned order; the Tribunal's power to admit an appeal filed after that period is limited by the proviso to a further period not exceeding fifteen days, and it cannot condone any delay beyond that fifteen-day outer limit even where the appellant shows sufficient cause.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
Regional Provident Fund Commissioner-II, ...Appellant Employees' Provident Fund Organisation, Regional Office: Amar Complex, Hijuguri, Tinsukia- 786 125 (Assam) Vs 1. Mr. Bijay Murmuria C/o Sumedha Management Solutions Private Limited, 226/1 A.J.C. Bose Road, Trinity Tower, Suit No: 3G, Kolkata-700 020
Also at: C/o Sumedha Management Solutions Private Limited, 6A Geetanjali, 8B Middleton Street, ..Respondent Kolkata 700 071 No. 1
2. M/s SREI Multiple Asset Investment Trust, "Vishwakarma", 86 C, Topsia Road (South), ..Respondent Kolkata- 700 046 No. 2
Present:
For Appellant: Mr. Manish Dhir, Advocate
For Respondents: Mr. Bijay Murmuria, Advocate for Respondent No. 1 Mr. Sanjay Bhatt and Niharika Sharma, Advocates for Respondent No. 2.
ORDER
(Through: Virtual Mode)
10.08.2020 I.A. No. 1386 of 2020 in Company Appeal(AT)(Insolvency) No.
541 of 2020 has been filed by the Appellant- Regional Provident Fund
Commissioner -II, Tinsukia seeking condonation of delay of 22 days calculating
Company Appeal (AT)(Insolvency) No. 541 of 2020 Page 1 of 4 from the date of receipt of Certified Copy of the Impugned Order and it is stated
that there is a delay of 436 days in preferring the Appeal if the date of Impugned
Order is seen.
2. Impugned Order dated 07.12.2018 was passed by the Adjudicating
Authority (National Company Law Tribunal, Guwahati) in I.A. No. 73 of 2018 in
C.P. No. (IB) 02/GB/2018. It is stated that by such Order, Resolution Plan was
approved. The Application states that the Appellant became aware of the order
of NCLT, Guwahati on 02.07.2019 through Resolution Professional and
thereafter he had forwarded the copy of the Impugned Order to the Panel
Advocate to seek legal opinion and applied for certified copy only on 24.01.2020
which was issued on the same day. Limitation of 30 days expired on 24.02.2020
and the Appeal was filed on 17.03.2020. Thus, I.A. No. 1386 of 2020 was filed to
condone the delay of 22 days.
3. The List of Dates and Events shows that on 11.12.2018, the Appellant
received communication from Company Secretary of the Corporate Debtor
stating that NCLT Guwahti, vide its order dated 07.12.2018, had approved the
Resolution Plan submitted by Respondent No. 2. Thus, the Appellant had
knowledge since 11.12.2018 of the Impugned Order but the Appellant is
presenting the Appeal only on 18.03.2020 as can be seen from the records of
this Tribunal.
4. Section 61, sub-sections 1 & 2 of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code reads
as under:
Company Appeal (AT)(Insolvency) No. 541 of 2020 Page 2 of 4
...
"61. Appeals and Appellate Authority. -
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained
under the Companies Act 2013 (18 of 2013), any person
aggrieved by the order of the Adjudicating Authority
under this part may prefer an appeal to the National
Company Law Appellate Tribunal.
(2) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within
thirty days before the National Company Law Appellate
Tribunal:
Provided that the National Company Law Appellate
Tribunal may allow an appeal to be filed after the expiry
of said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that there
was sufficient cause for not filing the appeal but such
period shall not exceed fifteen days."
...
5. Considering above provision, we find that beyond the period of appeal of
30 days, the power of this Tribunal to allow appeal to be filed after expiry of said
30 days, shall not exceed 15 days. Looking into the provision, we cannot condone
delay beyond 15 days prescribed after the expiry of 30 days of Appeal.
Company Appeal (AT)(Insolvency) No. 541 of 2020 Page 3 of 4
6. Learned Counsel for the Appellant states that the Appellant has very good
case with regard to the case of the Provident Fund. However, the Appeal is time
barred and for lack of Jurisdiction, we cannot go into the Appeal.
Appeal is dismissed as time barred.
[Justice A.I.S. Cheema] Member (Judicial)
[Justice Anant Bijay Singh] Member (Judicial)
(Kanthi Narahari) Member(Technical) Akc/Mn
Company Appeal (AT)(Insolvency) No. 541 of 2020 Page 4 of 4
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