In M/s Platinum Rent A Car v M/s Quest Offices case, a bench of judges comprising Justices M. Venugopal and Shreesha Merla refused to excuse Platinum Rent A Car, the appellant company, for its 55-day delay in submitting its appeal.
The appellant’s contention in NCLT was that such delay be condoned since it had been caused by the delay in procuring the certified order copy. The company’s counsel also said that the Limitation Act provides for condonation of delay in cases such as the present.
The NCLAT, however, said it did not have the power to condone a delay exceeding a period of 45 days as per Section 61 of the IBC.
“Be that as it may, the ‘Appellate Tribunal’ has no ‘power’ to condone the ‘Delay’ after 30 + 15 = ‘45 Days’ and in the instant Comp App (AT) (CH) (Ins) No.448/2022 came to be filed on 55th day, which is beyond the ‘permissible limit’, provided under the ‘Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016’. This ‘Tribunal’, is not to extend its ‘Judicial arm of generosity,’ considering the fact that the ‘Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016’, is a self-contained and inbuilt one,” the order said.