A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Manoj Misra clarified that there is no difference between a free certified copy and a certified copy provided upon payment.
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court ruled on Friday(27th Sept) that an appeal before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) can be filed using the free certified copy of an order sent by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) registry to the litigants. This certified copy is sufficient for filing an appeal, the Court confirmed.
This decision overruled a prior ruling by the NCLAT, which had held that the free copy provided by the NCLT under Rule 50 of the NCLT Rules, 2016, could not be considered a certified copy required for filing an appeal under Rule 22.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice Manoj Misra clarified that there is no difference between a free certified copy and a certified copy provided upon payment.
However, they noted that litigants cannot evade time limitations by waiting for the free copy when they have the option of applying for one by paying a fee, citing the V Nagarajan case.
“The free copy was provided in November, and the appeal was submitted in December with a delay of just three days, which is within the condonable limit of 30 plus 15 days. Considering the provisions of Rule 50 of the NCLT Rules 2016, which allows for both free certified copies and those obtained through application, we conclude that the appeal was filed within the condonable limit. Therefore, we overturn the NCLAT order, allow the appeal, and restore it to the NCLAT for further proceedings. We affirm that the appeal was indeed within the acceptable delay period,”
the Court stated.
BACKGROUND
The case involved an appeal by the State Bank of India (SBI), which had sought to initiate insolvency proceedings against India Power Corporation Ltd. The NCLT had dismissed SBI’s petition under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on October 30, 2023.
SBI then filed an appeal with a three-day delay before the NCLAT, which refused to condone the delay, ruling that the attached free copy did not qualify as a certified copy under Rule 22.
The Supreme Court disagreed with this interpretation and held that the delay of only three days fell within the condonable limit of 30 plus 15 days, as per the NCLT Rules. The Court set aside the NCLAT’s ruling, restored SBI’s appeal, and sent it back to NCLAT for reconsideration.
Case Title: State Bank of India v. India Power Corporation Ltd
