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National Spot Exchange Limited v. Anil Kohli, Resolution Professional for Dunar Foods Limited

Civil Appeal · 2021 INSC 476Decided 14 Sept 2021
Civil Appeal No. 6187 of 2019
Justice M.R. Shah · Justice Aniruddha Bose

Background

National Spot Exchange had claimed roughly Rs. 673 crore against Dunar Foods Limited (undergoing insolvency proceedings), alleging the money had been siphoned off through a related company, but the Resolution Professional and the Tribunal rejected the claim for lack of any direct contractual relationship with Dunar Foods. When National Spot Exchange appealed this rejection to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), it filed 44 days late, and the NCLAT refused to condone the delay because the law only allows a maximum 15-day extension beyond the normal 30-day limit.

Decision Breakdown

The Supreme Court upheld the NCLAT's refusal, holding that Section 61(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code sets a hard, non-extendable cap of 15 days' extra time beyond the 30-day appeal window, and that this limit cannot be bypassed even using the Supreme Court's own broad "complete justice" power under Article 142 of the Constitution. The Court relied on its earlier Constitution Bench ruling that statutory deadlines using words like "but not thereafter" leave courts with no discretion to extend them further, however sympathetic the facts. The appeal was dismissed, meaning the rejection of the claim stood final.

Lesson Learnt

When a law fixes an absolute outer limit for filing an appeal, missing it is usually fatal: no court, however senior, can extend a statutory deadline that Parliament has deliberately made non-extendable, regardless of the amount of money at stake.

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

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