Limitation under insolvency law: debt acknowledgments and the Supreme Court extension kept the petition within time.

A company petition under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was held to be within limitation because repeated one-time settlement proposals by the corporate debtor operated as acknowledgments of debt, with the last acknowledgment dated 16.05.2017 extending the limitation period up to 15.05.2020. The Tribunal also applied the Supreme Court's suo motu extension of limitation for the period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022, so a petition filed on 12.08.2021 fell within the extended time. No contrary material was produced to rebut these facts, and the petition was therefore not time-barred.

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Issues: Whether the company petition under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was barred by limitation or was filed within time on account of acknowledgments of debt, exclusion of time, and the Supreme Court's extension of limitation.

Analysis: The appeal turned only on the question of limitation. The Tribunal noted that the corporate debtor had made repeated one-time settlement proposals over several years, including a last acknowledgment dated 16.05.2017, which extended the limitation period. On that basis, the limitation period was treated as extending up to 15.05.2020. The Tribunal further took into account the Supreme Court's suo motu extension of limitation for the period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022. Since the company petition was filed on 12.08.2021, it fell within the extended limitation period. The Tribunal also observed that no contrary material was placed to displace these facts.

Conclusion: The company petition was within limitation and was not time-barred.

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