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2023 (12) TMI 316 - AT - Insolvency and BankruptcyMaintainability of Section 9 application in respect of extinguished claims - Seeking initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process against Corporate Debtor - extinguishment of right of the Operational Creditor in respect of their claims - resolution plan of the Corporate Debtor already been approved - the claims of the Operational Creditor is being part of the resolution plan or not - HELD THAT:- Having come to the finding that the Appellant had not filed their claims before the Resolution Professional before approval of the resolution plan by the Adjudicating Authority and that there is no unambiguous proof that the claim of the Appellant was reflected in the records of the Corporate Debtor we now make a foray into the question whether the claims which did not constitute part of the resolution plan stood extinguished and, if so, whether the Appellant can file a Section 9 application at this stage in respect of such extinguished claims. It is undisputed that the Corporate Debtor had started its operations with a clean slate after settlement of dues with the creditors in terms of the orders of the Adjudicating Authority dated 17.10.2017. It is also a well settled legal precept that a resolution applicant cannot be expected to make a provision in relation to any creditor who has failed to make a claim within the stipulated time-line. It logically follows therefore that there is no legitimate scope in the IBC framework for agitating or initiating any proceeding in respect of a claim which was not part of the resolution plan or was not preferred at the relevant time - in the present case, when CIRP has been terminated way back in 2017 and the Corporate Debtor is already in saddle after following the due process, allowing a Section 9 application to proceed on the basis of an extinguished claim which had not been preferred before the Resolution Professional within the stipulated time cannot be countenanced. The Operational Creditor has endeavoured to indirectly assail the approval of a resolution plan after more than 5 years by initiating a separate Section 9 proceeding which is legally not tenable. Thus, no error has been committed by the Adjudicating Authority in rejecting the Section 9 application - appeal dismissed.
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