Limitation for IBC appeals runs from open-court pronouncement; late certified-copy requests cannot extend time or cure delay.

In an appeal under Section 61(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, limitation runs from the day after pronouncement of the impugned order in open court. Exclusion of time for obtaining a certified copy under Section 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is available only where the application for the copy is made within the prescribed limitation period. As the certified copy was sought after expiry of that period and no reliable material showed that uploading of the order was the relevant starting point, the delay could not be condoned. Section 4 of the Limitation Act did not assist on these facts.

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Issues: Whether the company appeals were barred by limitation and whether the delay in filing could be condoned by reckoning limitation from the date of uploading of the impugned order and by excluding the time taken to obtain the certified copy.

Analysis: The appeals arose from orders pronounced in open court on 01.08.2025. The statutory period under Section 61(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 had to be counted from the day after pronouncement. The party seeking exclusion under Section 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963 was required to apply for a certified copy within the limitation period so as to claim exclusion of the time requisite for obtaining it. The record showed that the certified copy was applied for only on 29.09.2025, long after expiry of the initial limitation period, and no reliable material established that the impugned order was first uploaded only on 26.09.2025. The gap between pronouncement and uploading, even if assumed, could not extend the limitation in the absence of a timely application for the certified copy. Section 4 of the Limitation Act, 1963 did not advance the case on these facts.

Conclusion: The delay could not be condoned and the appeals were held to be time-barred.

Ratio Decidendi: In an appeal under Section 61(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, limitation runs from pronouncement in open court, and exclusion of time for obtaining a certified copy under Section 12 of the Limitation Act, 1963 is unavailable unless the application for the copy is made within the prescribed limitation period.

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