TMI Blog2022 (8) TMI 1159X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... uthority, if not part of the resolution plan, shall stand extinguished and no proceedings in respect of such dues for the period prior to the date on which the Adjudicating Authority grants its approval Under Section 31 could be continued. Appeal dismissed. - Company Appeal (AT) (Ins) No. 450 of 2020 - - - Dated:- 25-8-2022 - [ Justice Anant Bijay Singh ] Member ( Judicial ) And [ Ms. Shreesha Merla ] Member ( Technical ) For the Appellant : Mr. Ashutosh Jain, Advocate For the Respondents : Ms. Charu Bansal, Ms. Misha Ms. Prabh Simran Kaur, for R-1. Ms. Varsha Banerjee, for R-2. Mr. Diwakar Maheshwari Ms. Pratiksha Mishra, for R-3 JUDGMENT Justice Anant Bijay Singh Preamble: The Present Appeal is filed by Government of India, through Office of the Deputy Commissioner, GST Central Excise, Balasore Division, Odisha being aggrieved and dissatisfied vide Order date 30.01.2020 passed by the Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, Cuttack) in CP (IB) No. 251/KB/2017, whereby, the Adjudicating Authority had dismissed the application bearing CA (IB) Nos. 157/CTB/2019, 162/CTB/2019 and 176/CTB/2019 connected with T ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... mount Admitted, ii. Admitted Liability as Contingent Claim, iii. Not Admitted and iv. Claim under Review. (i) Further, the case of the Appellant is that on enquiring regarding the basis of classification of claims, it was stated by the Respondent-RP that, in cases wherein the Corporate Debtor had filed an appeal with higher authorities, the same had been admitted as contingent liability. (j) On the other hand, on enquiring regarding rejection of claims, it was stated that the claim has not been admitted in those matters where there is any difference in the amount claimed vis- -vis amounts verifiable from the order copy and interest accrued upto the Insolvency Commencement Date ( ICD ). (k) Further, case of the Appellant is since the improper classification of claim was not proper and contrary to law, this office raised its objection on 04.11.219 and requested the Resolution Professional to admit the claims of the Department where the order is in favour of the department and there is no stay provided by the Court. (l) Further, case of the Appellant is that the aforesaid objections were raised in the 30th CoC meeting on 07.11.2019. However, the assurance of the R ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... adequately balanced the interests of all stakeholders including operational creditors . 10. Based on his submissions, it is submitted that the Impugned Order is to be set aside and the Appeal be allowed. Respondent s Submissions: Learned Counsel for the Respondent No. 1 in his Reply Affidavit , Written Submissions and also during the court of arguments submitted as follows:- 11. The position with respect to consideration and verification of claims as on the ICD is clear in view of Regulation 13 of the CIR Regulations, which mandates that the insolvency resolution professional or the resolution professional, as the case may be, shall verify the claims of the creditors of the corporate debtor as on insolvency commencement date. 12. Thus, claim of the Appellant to the tune of Rs. 27,80,96,126/-towards interest for the period after the ICD till the date of filing their claim i.e. 18 September 2019 is not verifiable in terms of the clear provisions of the Code and is bound to be rejected. 13. Further, it is not a case where the entire claim of interest of the Appellant has been rejected, rather it is only the interest portion which accrued after the ICD which h ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... Virtual Data Room ( VDR ), duly accessible to the Resolution Applicants. It is also imperative to note that the Appellant's representative was invited to the last three meetings of the COC (being 29 , 30 , 31 meeting held on 30 October 2019, 6 November 2019 and 11-12 November 2019), in its capacity of the largest operational creditor in accordance with the requirement under Section 24(3)(c) of the Code, wherein substantial discussion on the resolution plans including the plan of SPTL as approved by COC took place. 19. Moreover, the Appellant's representative was also provided access to the resolution plans for their review prior to the discussions in the meeting until the final approval of the SPTL's resolution plan and thus they had ample opportunity to raise objections regarding treatment of their claims under the resolution plan. However, without having done so, the Appellant approached the Adjudicating Authority by filing an application under Section 60(5) which has been rightly rejected by way of the Impugned Order. 20. It is submitted that in line with the provisions of the Code read with the Regulation 36 of the CIR Regulations (as it then existed), the inf ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... dition on payment terms under a resolution plan. 25. In the present case, the liquidation value payable to operational creditors is NIL as the entire liquidation value would get exhausted towards payments of CIRP costs, workmen dues and the dues owed to the secured financial creditors. 26. Further, in light of the existing jurisprudence as settled by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the decisions of K Shashidhar v. Indian Overseas Bank, 2019 SCC Online SC 257 and also in Committee of Creditors of Essar Steel India Limited Through Authorized Signatory v. Satish Kumar Gupta Ors., 2019 SCC Online SC 1428, the commercial decision of the COC is paramount and the same is not to be interfered with by NCLT as has been rightly done by way of the Impugned Order. 27. Based on these submissions it was submitted that there is no merit in this Appeal and the Appeal is fit to be dismissed. Findings:- 28. After hearing Counsel for the Parties and perusing the records and Written Submissions and Reply Affidavit filed on behalf of the Parties and from the perusal of the Impugned Order dated 30.01.2020 passed in CA (IB) No. 162/CTB/2019 connected with TP No. 42/CTB/2019 arising o ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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