In Brief
A company hired a crane to another company for work at an oil refinery. When the hirer failed to pay the hire charges (first default in mid-2013), the company filed a winding-up petition in 2015. After the Insolvency Code came into force in December 2016, the company filed an insolvency petition in March 2018. The tribunal dismissed it as time-barred under the three-year limitation period (default occurred over three years before filing). The appellate tribunal reversed this, holding the pending winding-up petition was sufficient cause. The Supreme Court held that limitation runs from the date the default occurs, not from when the Code came into force. Pending parallel proceedings in a competent court do not extend limitation. The appeal was allowed and the appellate order set aside.
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