Condonation of delay in refiling Company Appeal denied after 455-day delay deemed avoidable due to lack of due diligence

The text addresses condonation of delay in refiling a company appeal under the IBC, emphasising the statutes time-bound insolvency framework and the need for reasonable, unavoidable causes to excuse delay. The tribunal found a 455-day refiling delay and concluded that trivial arithmetic defects and non-co-location explanations did not demonstrate due diligence; consequently the delay was avoidable and the application for condonation was rejected. The reasoning underscores that registry defects related to computation must be cured promptly and that protracted laxity cannot justify relief in CIRP timelines.

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Issues: Whether the Appellant's application for condonation of 455 days delay in refiling the Company Appeal (AT)(Ins) No. 1748 of 2025 should be allowed.

Analysis: The Tribunal examined the reasons offered for the 455 days refiling delay, including travel and co-location difficulties of the appellant and counsel, repeated defect notifications by the Registry, and alleged difficulties in computing days of delay. The Tribunal acknowledged that refiling delay ordinarily attracts liberal consideration but emphasised the special, time-bound object of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and the need to balance expeditious resolution under the IBC with substantive justice. The Tribunal found that, while defects were initially cured with reasonable promptness until a certain point, thereafter there was an unexplained and significant slackness. The core defects related to an arithmetical computation of delay, which the Tribunal regarded as trivial and readily curable with due diligence. The explanations offered did not persuasively demonstrate that the delay was unavoidable or beyond the Applicant's control, and the magnitude of the delay militated against indulgence in the insolvency context.

Conclusion: The application for condonation of 455 days delay in refiling is rejected; the Memo of Appeal is consequently rejected (result against the Appellant).

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