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2021 (9) TMI 744 - Tri - Insolvency and BankruptcySeeking exclusion of period starting on the date of commencement of CIRP till the availability of books of accounts and details from the personnel of the Corporate Debtor - HELD THAT:- Section 19 provides for the personnel of the Corporate Debtor to cooperate with the interim resolution professional and if they do not cooperate, an application may be preferred under sub-section (2) thereof. Although the application under section 19(2) has been filed in the present case, it has not been pressed for hearing so far. Filing an application does not absolve the RP of his duties but he also has to pursue the application diligently, which has not been done in the present case. Although a provision for filing of application against the non-cooperating members has been provided for in the Code, the same shall not be resorted to unless the professional has discharged his duties proactively and diligently. The duty cast upon the IRP and the RP under sections 18 and 25 of the Code are not empty formalities that the professionals have to discharge just for the sake of doing it. Section 25(2) provides, inter alia, for the RP to take custody and control of all the assets of the Corporate Debtor, including the business records of the Corporate Debtor. In the present case, all that the RP has done is contact the member of the suspended board through email and speed post. The utter lack of seriousness on the part of the RP in discharging his duties under the Code is appalling. Coming back to the point of exclusion, although a discretion has been provided to the Adjudicating Authority to enlarge the time for completion of CIRP, the discretion is to be used sparingly and judiciously in cases where the Applicant demonstrates that the Corporate Debtor is only a few days short of achieving a resolution by way of a resolution plan and that it would be in the interest of all stakeholders that the Corporate Debtor be put back on its feet instead of being sent into liquidation. Application dismissed.
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