Recorders And Medicare Systems Pvt. Ltd. vs Employees Provident Fund Organisation & Ors.

Per: Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain:

I.A. No. 4035 of 2023. This Application is filed for condonation of delay of 14 days in filing the Appeal.

Counsel for the Appellant/Applicant has submitted that delay has been caused because the management of the Appellant was not aware of the Impugned Order and after coming to know about the Impugned Order, the Appellant was unable to mobilise its resources in time because he was in Himachal Pradesh in the months of July and August and was unable to access the relevant documents and engage a counsel because of severe restrictions on movement resulting from the heavy floods in the region. It is also submitted that the requisite documents required for filing of the Appeal were in the offices located in Chandigarh and Ambala which consumed additional time in filing the Appeal.

We have heard counsel for the Appellant/applicant and perused the application.

This Appeal has been filed under Section 61 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (in short Code) against the Impugned Order dated 07.07.2023 passed by National Company Law Tribunal, Chandigarh Bench, Chandigarh by which Application I.A. No. 928 of 2020 has been allowed. Section 61, under which present Appeal has been filed deals with Appeals and Appellate Authority. Section 61 is as follows:

Section 61(1) provides a right of appeal to a person aggrieved by an order of the Adjudicating Authority to the NCLAT. Section 61(2) further provides a period of 30 days for the purpose of filing an Appeal before Appellate Tribunal under Section 61(1) of the Code. In case, the Appeal is not filed within prescribed period of 30 days, proviso to Section 61(2) provides for a period of 15 days within which Appeal can be filed satisfying the Appellate Authority Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No.1159/2023 that there was a sufficient cause for not filing the Appeal in time. However, the period of 15 days cannot be further extended because the Appellate Tribunal does not have the jurisdiction to consider and condone the delay beyond the period of 15 days.

Since the present Appeal has not been filed within the prescribed period of 30 days, which is a right given to an aggrieved person flowing, from Section 61(2) of the Code and rather the Appeal has been filed, invoking Section 61(2) proviso, there has been a delay of 14 days in filing of the Appeal i.e. one day less than the maximum period of 15 days provided for this purpose.

The Appellate Authority has the jurisdiction to condone the delay only if there is a sufficient cause shown in that regard by the Applicant meaning thereby the sufficient cause “is a sine quo non” for the purpose of seeking condonation of delay and it should be to the satisfaction of the Appellate Authority. The reason assigned in this Application in not approaching this Court within the prescribed time and spending 14 days more beyond the period of 30 days is only a concocted story given by the Appellant because of failure to give the detail of the stay of the Appellant in Himachal Pradesh in the months of July and August as stated because the Impugned Order was passed on 07.07.2023 and the period of 30 days expired on 06.08.2023 whereas Appeal has been filed on 21^st August, 2023. It is also not believable that Appellant consumed so much time in retrieving the documents from his office located in Chandigarh and Ambala for the purpose of filing of Appeal. Thus looking from any angle, the Appellant has given a concocted story which is totally unbelievable and as a result thereof, it is not a sufficient cause for the purpose of seeking condonation of delay to the satisfaction of this Court, therefore, the Application is not found to be meritorious and the same is hereby dismissed.