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25. The appellant instituted the present Civil Appeal before this Court, challenging the Impugned Judgement of the NCLAT. By an Order dated 14 August 2024, this Court issued notice on the appeal and directed that there would be a stay  PART A on the operation of the Impugned Judgment. The second respondent was directed to maintain the amount of Rs 158 crores, which has been realized in pursuance of the settlement, in a separate escrow account, to abide by further directions of this Court.

74. Section 62 of the IBC governs statutory appeals to the Supreme Court from the orders of the NCLAT. The provision reads as follows:

“62. Appeal to Supreme Court – (1) Any person aggrieved by an order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal may file an appeal to the Supreme Court on a question of law arising out of such order under this Code within forty-five days from the date of receipt of such order.

(2) The Supreme Court may, if it is satisfied that a person was prevented by sufficient cause from filing an appeal within forty-five days, allow the appeal to be filed within a further period not exceeding fifteen days.” (emphasis supplied)

75. The provision stipulates that “any person” who is aggrieved by the order of the NCLAT may file an appeal before the Supreme Court within the prescribed limitation period. Similar language is used in Section 61 of the IBC, which provides for appeals to NCLAT from orders of the NCLT.50 The use of the phrase “any person aggrieved” indicates that there is no rigid locus requirement “61. Appeals and Appellate Authority.-

(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained under the Companies Act 2013 (18 of 2013), any person aggrieved by the order of the Adjudicating Authority under this part may prefer an appeal to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal.

[…]”  PART E to institute an appeal challenging an order of the NCLT, before the NCLAT or an order of the NCLAT, before this Court. Any person who is aggrieved by the order may institute an appeal, and nothing in the provision restricts the phrase to only the applicant creditor and the corporate debtor. As noted above, once the CIRP is initiated, the proceedings are no longer restricted to the individual applicant creditor and the corporate debtor but rather become collective proceedings (in rem), where all creditors, such as the appellant, are necessary stakeholders. The appellant is not an unrelated party to the CIRP, but is in fact, an entity whose claims had been verified by the IRP vide letter 19 August 2024. The appellant who claims to be a Financial Creditor, has expressed reasonable apprehensions about the prejudice it would face if there were roundtripping of the funds, and the prioritization of the debts of the second respondent, an operational creditor.