How to ascertain the limitation of filing the petition if the party entitled to get a free copy of the order as per statute has not received it?

  Therefore, it is true, as contended by the Appellants, that the period of limitation of 45 days prescribed in Section 421(3) would start running only from the date on which a copy of the order of the Tribunal is made available to the person aggrieved. It is also true that Under Section 420(3) of the Act read with Rule 50, the Appellants were entitled to be furnished with a certified copy of the order free of cost.{Para 13}

14. Therefore if the Appellants had chosen not to file a copy application, but to await the receipt of a free copy of the order in terms of Section 420(3) read with Rule 50, they would be perfectly justified in falling back on Section 421(3), for fixing the date from which limitation would start running. But the Appellants in this case, chose to apply for a certified copy after 27 days of the pronouncement of the order in their presence and they now fall back upon Section 421(3).

15. Despite the above factual position, we do not want to hold against the Appellants, the fact that they waited from 25.10.2019 (the date of the order of NCLT) upto 21.11.2019, to make a copy application. But atleast from 19.12.2019, the date on which a certified copy was admittedly received by the counsel for the Appellants, the period of limitation cannot be stopped from running.

 IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA

Civil Appeal Nos. 3007-3008 of 2020

Decided On: 18.09.2020

 Sagufa Ahmed   Vs. Upper Assam Plywood Products Pvt. Ltd. and Ors.

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:

S.A. Bobde, C.J.I., A.S. Bopanna and V. Ramasubramanian, JJ.

Citation: MANU/SC/0697/2020

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