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Judgment
ORDER
The Appellant in this instant Company Appeal, is Respondent No.2 in Company Petition No.46/59/HDB/2022, Indira Devi Vs NRI Power & Infra Corporation Pvt. Ltd. & 8 Ors. The said Company Petition was decided, along with the Company Petition No.39/241/HDB/2022 by Learned NCLT, Hyderabad, by passing a composite order dated 21.08.2024. Appeal against the order passed in Company Petition No.39/241/HDB/2022, is independently under consideration in the connected Comp App (AT) (CH) No.63/2024, and as such we are not going to venture into the propriety of the Impugned Order dated 21.08.2024, so far as it relates to the Company Petition No.39/241/HDB/2022, which will be exclusively the subject matter of consideration in the Comp App (AT) (CH) No.63/2024.
What are we concerned herein, is with the order, which has been rendered in CP No.46/59/HDB/2022, Indira Devi Vs NRI Power & Infra Corporation Pvt. Ltd. & 8 Ors., which was the Company Petition preferred by Indira Devi, Respondent No.2, in the instant Company Appeal. In the said order, Ld. NCLT has first arrived at the finding that the Company Petition is not barred by limitation and thereafter, after hearing both parties and considering their submission, has proceeded to dismiss the Company Petition. The Appellant herein seeks to challenge the finding that CP No.46/59/HDB/2022 is not barred by limitation.
The issue of limitation so far, it relates to CP No.46/59/HDB/2022, was taken up before the Learned Tribunal, and the aspect of limitation, has been elaborately considered in para 14 & 15 of the impugned order, with the conclusion arrived at in para 16 of the order. In these paragraphs the Learned Tribunal has observed that, in normal course, limitation would have expired on 28.11.2021, that this falls within the period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022 which was ordered to be excluded for the purpose of limitation by virtue of the Judgment of the Hon’ble Apex Court as rendered in Suomotu Writ Petition, (Civil) No.3/2020, and therefore the period of limitation will get extended from 01.03.2022 by the balance period of limitation available from 15.03.2020 which is 625 days, to 25.11.2023 and since the Company Petition was filed on 08.09.2022, it has to be construed, to be falling well within the limitation period, it would not be barred by limitation.
The Appellant has challenged this finding in this instant Appeal contending that the limitation period, even taking into account the implication of Suo Moto Judgement of Hon'ble Apex Court, should have ended on 30.05.2022, that is, 90 days from 01.03.2022, and hence the Company Petition would be barred by limitation.
During the course of the argument, the Learned Senior Counsel for the Respondent, Mr. S. Ravi, has harped upon the fact that the question of determination of limitation period on account of Covid 19 Pandemic would now stand covered by the Judgment of Hon'ble Apex Court dated 01.03.2024 reported in 2024 Vol 5 SCC Page 313 Arif Azim Company Limited Vs Aptech Limited, in which it has been observed that for cases where the period of limitation would be expiring in between 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022, the balance period of limitation left as on 15.03.2020 will become available with effect from 01.03.2022. The Ld. Senior Counsel for the Appellant admits that this is indeed the case and that the findings of Ld. NCLT is correct owing to the ratio, which has already been settled in the matters of Arif Azim Company ltd v. Aptech Ltd. The Ld. Counsel for the Appellant submits that since the issue stands covered by the aforesaid Judgment, no independent adjudication is required in the instant Company Appeal at the behest of the Appellant, so far as it relates to challenging the part of question of limitation, as it has been decided by the Learned Tribunal in the matters of Company Petition No.46/59/HDB/2022.
Owing to the aforesaid consensus and particularly the implications that has been drawn from the ratio of the Hon’ble Apex Court Judgment, it can be safely held that the finding recorded by the Learned Adjudicating Authority, qua the aspect of determination of limitation, that the petition is falling well within the period of limitation to be calculated based upon the principles of exlusion provided by the Hon’ble Apex Court Judgment in Suo Moto WP (Civil) No.3/2020, which has been challenged by the Appellant, does not call for any interference owing to the principles settled by Hon’ble Apex Court, in its judgment in the matters of Arif Azim Company Limited. Since, admittedly the controversy stands settled in the light of the aforesaid Judgment, the partial challenge by the Learned Counsel for the Appellant to the impugned order with regards to limitation, is not required to be ventured into on the merits.
Hence, the Appeal would stand dismissed, limited to the extent of the challenge given in the aspect of limitation, which stood granted by the Learned Tribunal to the petitioner of the Company Petition. Owing to the above, the Company Appeal lacks merit and the same is accordingly dismissed in the light of the principles propounded by the Judgment of Arif Azim Company Limited Vs Aptech Limited. All pending Interlocutory Applications would stand closed.