Supreme Court Restores Appeal Filed Within Exclusion Period; COVID-19 Limitation Relaxation Applies to NCLAT Appeals
- REEDLAW
- Apr 24
- 2 min read
The Supreme Court held that the COVID-19 limitation relaxation applies to appeals before the NCLAT and accordingly restored the appeal filed by the State Trading Corporation within the exclusion period.
The Supreme Court Bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar reviewed an appeal along with a connected Interlocutory Application and held that appeals filed within the exclusion period prescribed under its COVID-19 limitation orders—specifically from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022—must be treated as filed within limitation. Consequently, dismissal of such an appeal on the ground of limitation was held to be unsustainable and contrary to law.
Background
The present matter arose from an order dated 13.02.2020 passed by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai Bench. This order was challenged by the appellant, The State Trading Corporation of India, through an appeal filed before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), New Delhi, on 19.08.2021. However, the NCLAT, by its judgment dated 20.04.2023, dismissed the appeal on the ground that it was barred by limitation.
Analysis
The Hon’ble Supreme Court examined the validity of the NCLAT’s dismissal on limitation grounds and held that the impugned judgment could not be sustained as it was contrary to the law laid down in connection with COVID-19 related limitation relaxations. The Court noted that through its earlier orders in M.A. No. 665/2021 in Suo Motu Writ Petition (C) No. 3 of 2020, it had directed that the period between 15.03.2020 and 28.02.2022 was to be excluded for the purposes of computing limitation.
The Supreme Court further referred to its order dated 08.03.2021, which provided that if an appeal was filed within 90 days from 15.03.2021, it would be considered within the limitation period. If the actual balance period of limitation remaining as of 15.03.2021 exceeded 90 days, the longer period would apply.
In this case, since the appeal was filed on 19.08.2021—squarely within the exclusion period—the Supreme Court held that the appeal was filed within the limitation period as per its own binding directions.
Conclusion
In view of the above findings, the Supreme Court set aside the impugned NCLAT judgment dated 20.04.2023 and allowed the appeal. It directed that the appeal filed by The State Trading Corporation of India be treated as filed within limitation and restored the matter to its original position before the NCLAT for adjudication on merits. The Court also clarified that no observations were made on the merits of the case and directed the parties to appear before the NCLAT on 07.05.2025 for fixation of the next hearing date. Pending applications, if any, were deemed disposed of.
Mr. Uday Gupta, Sr. Advocate, Ms. Shivani Lal, Mr. Hiren Dasan, Ms. Sanam Singh, Mr. Unmukt Gera, Mr. Ajay Sharma, Mr. Deepanshu Rana, Mr. Rajeev Kumar Gupta and Ms. Sundri, Advocates, Mr. Parminder Singh Bhullar, AOR, represented the Appellant.
Ms. Purti Gupta, AOR, Ms. Henna George, and Ms. Sunidhi Sah, Advocates, represented the Respondent.
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