Telangana Housing Board vs Mr. Birendra Kumar Agarwal & Ors.

Oral Judgment : Justice Sharad Kumar Sharma, Member (Judicial):

In each of these three Company Appeals which had been preferred at the behest of the Telangana Housing Board, Telangana Housing Board have independently put the challenge to the respective Orders passed, that is;

Each of these Company Appeals are accompanied with the respective Condone Delay Applications being IA No. 412 / 2025, IA No. 419 / 2025 and IA No. 421 / 2025.

It is to be noted that, all these Applications, seeking condonation of delay in filing of the Appeals have been preferred, by invoking the provisions contained under Section 5 of the Limitation Act.

Let us be quite clear at this juncture itself, that the provisions contained under Section 5 of the Limitation Act, since being the provisions, which are general in nature, will not be applicable to those matters, which are being governed by a special Statute, in which the aspect of Limitation is dealt with by a self-contained provision within the Act. The Registry has reported that, the Appeals are delayed by 53, 42 & 53 days respectively.

The records reveal that in case of Company Appeal (AT) (CH) (INS) No. 154 / 2025, the Impugned Order was rendered on the Application being IA No. 1317 / 2024, as it was preferred by the Appellant, on 04.10.2024 and the Appeal was e-filed before the Registry of this Tribunal on 03.01.2025 i.e. after a delay of 53 days. The Certified copy of the Order in this case was applied on 13.12.2024 and the copy was received on 19.12.2024 which means, the Application for obtaining the Certified copy of the Order itself was filed after 69 days of pronouncement of the order.

In Company Appeal (AT) (CH) (INS) No. 156 / 2025, the Order was passed on 16.10.2024 in IA No. 1577 / 2024, the Application for obtaining the Certified copy of the Order was filed on 13.12.2024 and a copy of the same was received on 20.12.2024, which apparently shows that the Certified copy of the Order was applied after 57 days, and the Appeal is reported to be preferred with a delay of 42 days.

In Company Appeal (AT) (CH) (INS) No. 157 / 2025, the Appellant has filed an Application for obtaining the Certified copy of the Order, after 69 days of the Order and the Appeal was e-filed on 03.01.2025 i.e. with a delay of 53 days.

The reason for delay in each of these Appeals have been given in Para 5 of the Condone Delay Application wherein it has been pleaded that, the Head of the Department of the Appellant Company was appointed as the observer for the By-Elections in the State of Uttar Pradesh by the Election Commission of India and he was forced to be remain out of station, due to which he was unable to give instructions for filing the Appeal, and also he was unable to authorize a Competent person to swear the Affidavit and to file the Company Appeal within the time prescribed.

When we have called upon the learned counsel for the Appellant, as to the date when the Application for obtaining the Certified copy was filed. The learned counsel for the Appellant has, without there being any pleading in the Condone Delay Application, has submitted that, they had earlier applied for the Certified copy. But the date of applying for such copy, was clarified by Mr. VVSN Raju, learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1, by drawing our attention to Clause XVII of the Memorandum of Appeal, which reads as under:

It shows that the Appellant in fact, had received the Certified copy of the Order on 08.10.2024. Given this, the e-filing of the Company Appeal on 03.01.2025, happens to be beyond the prescribed period of limitation as provided under Sub-Section (2) of Section 61 of the I & B Code, 2016, even if it is read with the proviso to it.

Further, the plea of there being lack of a Competent Authority to authorize a person to prefer an Appeal within the time limit because of the absence of the HOD on account of Election work has been countered by Mr. VVSN Raju, learned counsel for the Respondent No. 1, by drawing our attention of this Tribunal to the Authorization Letter as annexed Annexure II to the Appeal being Authorization Letter No. 1021 / Manjeera / S2 & S3 / CIRP / AE / PC / 2023 dated 28.11.2024. If the authorization itself happens to be of 28.11.2024 and the copy of the Impugned Order was received by the Appellant on 08.10.2024, preferring of an Appeal by e-filing of the same on 03.01.2025 is still much beyond the period prescribed under Sub-Section 2 of Section 61 of the I & B Code, 2016.

The Ld. Counsel for the Appellant has attempted to seek condonation of the delay on the ground that, the Appellant is a State instrumentality, and that the Officer competent to authorize filing of an Affidavit was engaged in Election work in Uttar Pradesh and hence, the Appeal could not be filed within time. This plea, is belied from their own records as the authorization letter has been executed on 28.11.2024. Moreover, I & B Code, 2016, restricts the extension of time period beyond 45 days of the date of the Order for filing of an Appeal as prescribed under Sub-Section (2) of Section 61 of the Code to be read with its proviso and according to this and as per a number of Judgments rendered by Hon’ble Apex Court, there cannot be any extension under any set of circumstances, even if the Officer was assigned to perform the Election Duty as referred to in Para 5 of the Condone Delay Application, as law has not carved out any exception.

Since, the law has not carved out any exception of extending the period of Limitation beyond 45 days and the Authority vested with this Appellate Tribunal, is limited to grant 15 days beyond the limitation period of 30 days only, as prescribed under Sub-Section (2) of Section 61 of I & B Code, 2016, we, under no set of circumstances and also coupled with the reasons which we have already dealt with above, do not hold an authority to extend the period as prayed for by the Appellant, owing to the pre-engagement of the Authority who was supposed to file the Appeal, and particularly, if it is to be read in context of the Authorization mentioned i.e. dated 28.11.2024.

Hence, owing to the aforesaid reasons, the Appeals being Company Appeal (AT) (CH) (INS) No. 154 / 2025, Company Appeal (AT) (CH) (INS) No. 156 / 2025 & Company Appeal (AT) (CH) (INS) No. 157 / 2025, would stand barred by Limitation, since, being beyond the prescribed period under Sub-Section (2) of Section 61 of I & B Code, 2016, and the same are accordingly dismissed. The connected pending Interlocutory Applications, if any, would stand closed.