The Supreme Court on Wednesday (August 12) held that the period spent in pursuing winding up proceedings cannot be excluded under Section 14 of the Limitation Act for filing a recovery suit, as the relief sought in the two proceedings is fundamentally different“…the initiation of a winding up proceeding, which may or may not enable recovery, will not impact the limitation for the separate remedy of suit for recovery of money. The respondent filed a suit for recovery of ₹24,36,105/- in June 2010 based on unpaid invoices dating back to January 2006 and March 2007, i.e., beyond the three-year limitation period. Earlier, the respondent had approached the Company Court for winding up in February 2009, but the court found a clear dispute raised by the appellant and relegated the respondent to civil remedy. Setting aside the Calcutta High Court's decision which had allowed the recovery suit, the judgment authored by Justice Chandran observed that the recovery suit was hit by limitation, as it was filed beyond the three-year timeline. The Court said that the Respondent's defence under Section 14 of the Limitation Act cannot survive, as the period spent in pursuing the winding up proceedings cannot be categorised as the same matter in issue nor the same relief was claimed.