STATE BANK OF INDIA versus INDIA POWER CORPORATION LIMITED

Citation: [2024] 10 S.C.R. 384 · Decided: 27-09-2024 · Supreme Court of India · Bench: D.Y. CHANDRACHUD, MANOJ MISRA · Disposal: Appeal(s) allowed

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Judgment (excerpt)

[2024] 10 S.C.R. 384 : 2024 INSC 774
State Bank of India 
v. 
India Power Corporation Limited
(Civil Appeal No. 10424 of 2024)
27 September 2024
[Dr Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, CJI and Manoj Misra, J.]
Issue for Consideration
The issue which arises for consideration is the interpretation 
of Rule 50 of the National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016  
(NCLT Rules) and Rule 22 of the National Company Law Appellate 
Tribunal Rules, 2016 (NCLAT Rules).
Headnotes†
National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016 – Rule 50 – 
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016 –  
Rule 22 – Interpretation of:
Held: Rule 22(2) of the NCLAT Rules requires that every appeal 
shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the impugned 
order – Rule 50 of the NCLT Rules prescribes that the Registry 
shall send a certified copy of the final order free of cost and 
certified copies may be made available on payment of costs in  
terms of the Schedule of Fees in all other cases – Both the 
certified copy which is made available free of cost as well as the 
certified copy which is made available on the payment of costs, 
are treated as certified copies for the purpose of Rule 50 – A 
litigant who does not apply for a certified copy cannot then fall 
back and claim that he was awaiting the grant of a free copy to 
obviate the bar of limitation. [Para 19]
National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016 – Rule 50 – 
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016 –  
Rule 22 – Before NCLAT, appellant filed an application for 
condonation of delay on the ground that the appeal was lodged 
with delay of 3 days beyond the 30 day period prescribed – A 
divergence arose between the two members of the NCLAT –  
The third member agreed with the judicial member in 
dismissing the application for condonation of delay:
[2024] 10 S.C.R. 
385
State Bank of India v. India Power Corporation Limited
Held: The Judicial Member, NCLAT held that the certified copy 
which was filed by the appellant was a “free of cost” copy and hence 
in the absence of an application for the grant of a certified copy, 
the delay of three days could not be condoned – The Technical 
Member, on the other hand, held that no distinction could be made 
between certified copies obtained through the payment of fee and 
a free copy and sufficient cause was shown for condoning the 
delay of three days – The third member agreed with the judicial 
member – In the instant case, the free copy was made available 
on 14.11.2023 after the decision of the NCLT was pronounced 
on 30.10.2023 – The appeal was lodged on 02.12.2023 – The 
appeal was lodged with a delay of only three days beyond the 
statutory period of 30 days and, therefore, fell within the condonable 
period of 15 days – Sufficient cause was shown for condoning the 
delay of three days – A Schedule of Fees is prescribed by the 
NCLT Rules – Entry 31 of the Schedule stipulates that the fee 
for obtaining true certified copies of final orders passed to parties 
other than the concerned parties under Rule 50 shall be Rupees 
five per page – The stipulation of Rupees five per page in Entry 31 
excludes “the concerned parties under Rule 50” – The provisions 
of Rule 50 of the NCLT Rules place both the free certified copy 
as well as the certified copy which is applied for on payment of 
fees on the same footing – The appeal in the present case was 
filed within the condonable period of 15 days, which should have 
been condoned – Accordingly, the delay of three days in filing the 
appeal shall stand condoned. [Paras 5, 20, 21, 22, 23]
Case Law Cited
V Nagarajan v. SKS Ispat and Power Limited & Ors. [2021] 14 
SCR 736 : (2022) 2 SCC 244 – relied on.
List of Acts
National Company Law Tribunal Rules, 2016; National Company 
Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016; Insolvency and Bankruptcy 
Code, 2016.
List of Keywords
Interpretation of Rule 50 of the National Company Law Tribunal 
Rules, 2016; Rule 22 of the National Company Law Appellate 
Tribunal Rules, 2016; Section 61(2) of Insolvency and Bankruptcy 
Code, 2016; Condonation of delay; Certified copy of order; Free 
of costs; Payment of costs; Bar of limitation.
386
[2024] 10 S.C.R.
Digital Supreme Court Reports
Case Arising From
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION: Civil Appeal No. 10424 of 2024
From the Judgment and Order dated 09.07.2023 of the National 
Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Chennai Bench in I.A. No. 158 of 
2024 in Company Appeal (AT)(CH)(INS) No. 53 of 2024
Appearances for Parties
Tushar Me

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