IBC Section 62 Appeals Must Be Defect-Free Within Limitation; Re-Filing Delay Beyond 28 Days Cannot Be Condoned: Supreme Court

Case Name: CA Ramchandra Dallaram Choudhary v. Adani Infrastructure and Developers Private Limited

Citation: 2026 INSC 629

Date of Judgment/Order: 01 June 2026

Bench: Dipankar Datta, J. and Satish Chandra Sharma, J.

Held: The Supreme Court held that an appeal under Section 62 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 must be filed within 45 days, with only a further condonable period of 15 days on sufficient cause being shown, and that no condonation is permissible beyond this statutory outer limit of 60 days. The Court further held that where a defective Section 62 IBC appeal is filed, defects must be cured within 28 days as contemplated under the Supreme Court Rules, 2013, and once this period expires, the right to pursue the appeal stands extinguished. A defective appeal cannot be used as a device to save limitation, and re-filing delay beyond 28 days cannot be condoned in IBC appeals.

Summary: The liquidator of a corporate debtor under liquidation filed an appeal under Section 62 of the IBC challenging the NCLAT order dated 08 December 2025. The appeal was presented on 29 January 2026 with a delay of 7 days, which was within the 15-day grace period under Section 62(2), but the appeal was also defective and was re-filed after a further delay of 82 days after curing defects. The appellant argued that delay in re-filing should be treated liberally, especially since the appellant was a neutral officer acting for stakeholders, and relied upon an earlier order between the same parties where re-filing delay had been condoned. The Supreme Court rejected this contention and reaffirmed that the IBC is a strict, time-bound code where timelines cannot be diluted by resort to procedural flexibility under the Supreme Court Rules. The Court clarified that a Section 62 appeal must be capable of being placed before the Bench within the prescribed limitation period, and permitting defective filings to be cured at leisure would defeat the legislative object of finality and expedition under the IBC.

Decision: The Supreme Court dismissed the defective civil appeal as time-barred, holding that the delay in filing and the delay in re-filing were not liable to be condoned. The Court held that once the statutory limitation period under Section 62 of the IBC and the 28-day period for curing defects under the Supreme Court Rules expire, no application for condonation of re-filing delay can survive. The Court also found that, even otherwise, sufficient cause had not been shown for the delays. All connected applications were accordingly dismissed.