Procedural time limits may be enlarged after expiry where the rules permit it, and counsel's inadvertence need not defeat relief.

Procedural time limits for filing the certified copy of a sanctioned scheme under the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959 may be enlarged where the Rules expressly confer that power. The court treated the filing deadline as procedural rather than jurisdictional, and held that extension remained available even after expiry of the stipulated period if justice required it. Applying the principle that procedural law should advance justice, the court also accepted that a litigant should not ordinarily suffer for an inadvertent lapse by counsel's office. On the facts, a bona fide explanation for the delay was shown and no prejudice to the Registrar of Companies was established, so relief was granted.

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Issues: Whether the time fixed for filing the certified copy of the sanctioned scheme with the Registrar of Companies could be enlarged after expiry of the stipulated period, and whether the appellant should be denied relief for the inadvertence of its advocate's office.

Analysis: Rule 81 of the Companies (Court) Rules, 1959 required the certified copy of the order sanctioning the compromise or arrangement to be filed within the time fixed by the court, while rule 7 of the same Rules empowered the court to enlarge or abridge the time appointed by the Rules or fixed by an order of court for doing any act or taking any proceeding. The time stipulation was therefore procedural and not absolute in the sense that it deprived the court of jurisdiction to extend time. The court relied on the principle that procedural law is intended to advance justice and that a litigant should not ordinarily suffer for the lapse of counsel or his office. The circumstances disclosed a bona fide explanation for the delay, and no prejudice to the Registrar of Companies was shown.

Conclusion: The time for filing the certified copy was rightly enlarged, and the appellant was entitled to relief. The appeal was allowed.

Ratio Decidendi: Where the governing procedural rules expressly confer power to enlarge time, the court may grant extension even after expiry of the period if justice so requires, and a litigant should not be penalised for an inadvertent lapse of counsel's office.

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