IMPORTANT POINTS
An appeal u/s 125, Electricity Act, 2003 filed after 120 days cannot be entertained by the Supreme Court.
Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 can be applied even when section 5 of the Act is not applicable.
For availing benefit of section 14 of Limitation Act, 1963 a party should be prosecuting another civil proceedings with due diligence, and the prosecution should be in good faith.

JUDGMENT :

Kurian, J.

1. This appeal is filed under Section 125 of the Electricity Act, 2003. Interlocutory Application No. 1 of 2015 is for condonation of 161 days’ delay in filing the appeal. The main ground in the application is that the delay occurred on account of the time taken by the appellant in prosecuting a review petition before the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity.

2. It is seen from the application for condonation of delay that the original order of the Appellate Tribunal was passed on 28.11.2014. A certified copy of the order was obtained on 17.12.2014. Review petition was filed on 25.02.2015 beyond the period of limitation of 30 days. We are informed that the Appellate Tribunal had condoned the delay and entertained the review petition.

3. Be that as it may, on 07.05.2015, the review petition was dismissed as withdrawn. According to the appellant and as stated in the application for condonation of delay before this Court, the review petition was withdrawn with a view to filing the present appeal before this Court. After the dismissal of the review petition on 07.05.2015, the present appeal is filed before this Court on 07.07.2015. It is stated in the application that the delay occurred on account of the summer vacations, and thus, there is a total delay of 161 days.

4. Section 125 of the Electricity Act, 2003 provides for appeals to the Supreme Court of India. The provision reads as follows:-

“125. Appeal to Supreme Court.-Any person aggrieved by any decision or order of the Appellate Tribunal, may, file an appeal to the Supreme Court within sixty days from the date of communication of the decision or order of the Appellate Tribunal, to him, on any one or more of the grounds specified in section 100 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (5 of 1908):

Provided that the Supreme Court may, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufcient cause from filing the appeal within the said period, allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding sixty days.”

5. The appeal under Section 125 of the Electricity Act, 2003 in Supreme Court has to be filed within 60 days from the date of communication of the decision or order of the Appellate Tribunal. However, the Supreme Court, if it is satisfied that the appellant was prevented by sufcient cause from filing an appeal within the said period of 60 days, may allow it to be filed within a further period not exceeding 60 days. Thus, the maximum period within which an appeal can be filed under Section 125 is 120 days which includes the discretion granted to the Supreme Court to condone the delay limited to 60 days. The Supreme Court cannot condone the delay beyond 60 days by invoking Section 5 of the Limitation Act, 1963 and ignoring the special limitation prescribed under the Electricity Act, 2003. This Court, in Chhattisgarh State Electricity Board v. Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and others, (2010) 5 SCC 23 at paragraph-32, has settled this issue:-

“32. In view of the above discussion, we hold that Section 5 of the Limitation Act cannot be invoked by this Court for entertaining an appeal filed against the decision or order of the Tribunal beyond the period of 120 days specified in Section 125 of the Electricity Act and its proviso. Any interpretation of Section 125 of the Electricity Act which may attract the applicability of Section 5 of the Limitation Act read with Section 29(2) thereof will defeat the object of the legislation, namely, to provide special limitation for filing an appeal against the decision or order of the Tribunal and proviso to Section 125 will become nugatory.”

6. Learned Senior Counsel at this juncture prays that the application may be considered in terms of the principles under Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963. Section 14 of the Limitation Act, 1963 reads as follows:

“14. Exclusion of time of proceeding bona fide in court without jurisdiction.-

(1) In computing the period of limitation for any suit the time during which the