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2023 (3) TMI 1381 - SUPREME COURTSeeking rejection of the Resolution Plan and the liquidation of SHPL - it is alleged that the plan could not have dealt with land belonging to the municipal corporation without its prior approval under Sections 92 and 92-A of the Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act (MMC Act) 1988 - termination of contract agreement and no lease was ever executed in respect of the land belonging to MCGM in favour of SHPL. Whether the High Court of Andhra Pradesh was justified in entertaining the PIL and issuing an interim order? HELD THAT:- The appellant would have been relegated to pursue the objection to the maintainability of the PIL before the High Court. However, it is evident that this course of action need not be followed for the simple reason that the PIL was a complete abuse of process. The IBC provides forums and remedies. In the exercise of the jurisdiction conferred by Section 60(5), MCGM has moved the NCLT contending that the land in question which is situated at Mumbai cannot be included as a part of the assets of the Corporate Debtor. Since the application is pending before the NCLT, no opinion to be expressed on it. The provisions of the IBC were invoked for initiating the CIRP in respect of the Corporate Debtor. The first respondent who had evidently no locus in the proceedings chose to move a PIL ostensibly on the ground that he was seeking to safeguard the facility of the hospital for the benefit of the residents of Mumbai. The High Court should have rejected the PIL at the very threshold. It is apparent that the PIL was only intended to thwart the process which has been initiated under the IBC. The PIL was evidently motivated by extraneous considerations and should have been dismissed. Since the limited ambit of these proceedings relates to the recourse which was taken to the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution by the first respondent, no opinion expressed on the merits of the rights and contentions of the parties in the proceedings which are pending before the NCLT - recourse to the jurisdiction of the High Court under Article 226 of the Constitution in the form of a PIL constituted an abuse of process. Petition dismissed.
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