O R D E R

(Hybrid Mode)

Per: Barun Mitra, Member (Technical)

1.Present is an appeal which has been filed by the Appellant under Section 61 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, (‘IBC’ in short) challenging the impugned order dated 15.12.2025 passed by the Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai Bench-I) in CP(IB)/530(MB)2020. The Appeal is accompanied with an application praying for condonation of delay in filing of the appeal which is being taken up for consideration .

2. Company Appeal No. 503 of 2026 has been e-filed by the Applicant before this Tribunal on 30.01.2026. The Appeal has been accompanied with I.A. No. 1951 of 2026 which is an application praying for condonation of delay in filing of the Appeal. The prayers contained in I.A. No. 1951 of 2026 read as follows:

“a. Allow the present application thereby condoning the delay of 16 days in filing the accompanying Appeal;

b. Pass any other such order(s)/direction(s) that this Hon’ble Tribunal may deem fit and proper in light of the abovementioned facts and circumstances and in the interest of justice.”

3. At the very outset we take notice that the limitation period for filing an appeal under Section 61(2) of the IBC is 30 days, which period is, however, extendable by a further period not exceeding 15 days in the event the Tribunal is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing the appeal within the 30 days permissible period of limitation. Section 61(2) is extracted below:

“61. Appeals and Appellate Authority.

(2) Every appeal under sub-section (1) shall be filed within thirty days before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal: Provided that the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal may allow an appeal to be filed after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that there was sufficient cause for not filing the appeal but such period shall not exceed fifteen days.”

(Emphasis supplied)

4. When we look at the present sequence of events, we find that the impugned order bears the date 15.12.2025. Calculated therefrom, the statutory period of 30 days for filing the Appeal came to an end on 14.01.2026. Calculated forward, the further extendable period of 15 days expired on 29.01.2026. However, the present Appeal has been e-filed on 30.01.2026 involving a time-span of 46 days from the date of pronouncement of the impugned order. It is an admitted fact that the Appeal was filed on the 16^th day after the expiry of initial 30 days from the date of the impugned order.

5. The grounds for condonation of delay as mentioned in I.A. No. 1951 of 2026 are that the Applicant was not a party before the Adjudicating Authority and acquired knowledge of the impugned order dated 15.12.2025 only upon receipt of communication dated 26.12.2025 sent by Respondent No.1 which the Applicant received on 29.12.2025. It has further been pleaded that the impugned order was uploaded on the portal only on 19.12.2025. The limitation therefore deserved to be computed from the date on which the impugned order was uploaded i.e. 19.12.2025 and not from the date of the impugned order. Counted from the date of uploading of order, the limitation period for the present appeal was not barred by limitation. It is further submitted that after receipt of the impugned order, the Applicant took some time seeking legal opinion from its panel counsel and for appointment of counsel for filing the Appeal before this Tribunal besides consumption of time in collating voluminous records in the process of preparation of the appeal.

6. More pertinently it has additionally been pleaded by the Applicant that though bonafide attempts were made to e-file the Appeal from 28.01.2026 onwards, the filing could not be completed due to technical glitch on account of backend defects on the e-filing portal of this Registry which therefore came in the way of filing the Appeal within the condonable period of 15 days. Ultimately the appeal could be successfully e-filed on 30.01.2026 afte