In re Rajendra Devidas Puranik (NCLAT Delhi)
Summary: NCLAT Delhi rejected I.A. No. 6046 of 2026 seeking condonation of a 202-day delay in refiling Company Appeal (AT) No. 326 of 2026 and consequently dismissed the appeal. The appellant, Liquidator for M/s Brown Packaging Systems Pvt. Ltd., had challenged an NCLT Mumbai order which partly allowed his application concerning remuneration. The appeal was e-filed on 10.01.2026, and defects were first communicated on 16.01.2026. Although partial defects were removed and the appeal was refiled on 28.05.2026, further defects remained despite subsequent Registry communications.
The NCLAT examined Rule 26 of the NCLAT Rules, which deals with scrutiny and rectification of defective appeals or documents. The delay-condonation application sought to explain the delay on the basis that the Advocate-on-Record’s aged mother had cancer and required continuing medical treatment, with the counsel being her primary caregiver.
The Tribunal observed that the explanation concerned the counsel’s circumstances rather than the appellant’s inability to rectify the defects. It further observed that an affidavit supporting a delay-condonation application had to be filed by the litigant himself and that the counsel could not identify himself with the litigant for that purpose. According to the NCLAT, most of the work involved in curing the defects was ministerial and could have been undertaken by the appellant himself or with assistance from another counsel.
