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Angelwoods Apartment Allottees Association v. M Lalitha and Another

Civil Appeal · 2026 INSC 479Decided 12 May 2026
C.A. No.-014439-014440 - 2025
Justice Sanjay Kumar · Justice K. Vinod Chandran

Background

The appellant association's resolution plan for a corporate debtor was approved by the NCLT, Kochi Bench. Respondent No.1 (mother of a suspended director of the corporate debtor, claiming to be a financial creditor) filed an appeal against that approval before the NCLAT, Chennai, on the very last permissible day, but the appeal had multiple defects, including that it was refiled without a certified copy of the NCLT's order under challenge: a requirement under Rule 22(2) of the NCLAT Rules. The NCLAT nonetheless condoned both the delay in filing and the 150-day delay in refiling, treating the refiling delay as a matter purely between it and the appellant, without examining whether the appeal was validly instituted in the first place.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court held that filing an appeal without even applying for a certified copy of the impugned order, as required under Rule 22(2) of the NCLAT Rules and settled by the earlier 3-judge decision in V. Nagarajan v. SKS Ispat and Power Limited: meant that, in the eyes of law, there was effectively no valid filing of an appeal at all. Respondent No.1 neither applied for a certified copy before the limitation period expired, nor sought exemption from filing one, at either the original filing or the refiling stage. Given the strict timelines the IBC mandates (as emphasized in Ebix Singapore v. Committee of Creditors of Educomp Solutions), the Court held the NCLAT ought to have first verified whether the appeal was properly instituted before considering delay condonation, and having failed to do so, its order condoning the delays was set aside as the appeal was "incurably tainted" and should have been rejected at the threshold.

Lesson Learnt

In IBC appeals, filing (or refiling) without a certified copy of the order under challenge, or without seeking an exemption from that requirement, is not a mere curable technicality; it can render the appeal legally non-existent regardless of how the delay-condonation applications are decided. Litigants must apply for certified copies before their limitation period runs out to preserve their right of appeal.

Official source (sci.gov.in)View Judgment (PDF)

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