Srei Equipment Finance Ltd vs Uday Narayan Mitra

NATIONAL COMPANY LAW APPELLATE TRIBUNAL PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI I.A. No. 3615 of 2022 & 3869 of 2022 In Company Appeal (AT) (Ins.) No. 640 of 2022 IN THE MATTER OF: SREI Equipment Finance Ltd. ...Appellant

Versus Uday Narayan Mitra ...Respondent IRP of ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd. Present: For Appellant: Mr. Krishnendu Dutta, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Anirban Bhattacharya, Mr. Dhruv Sachdeva, Mr. Ankit Kohli, , Advocates. For Respondents: Mr. Abhijeet Sinha, Mr. Anand Varma and Ms. Apoorva Pandey, Advocates

ORDER

18.10.2022: This order shall dispose of two applications i.e. I.A. No.

3615 of 2022 filed by the Appellant and I.A. No. 3869 of 2022 filed by the RP.

In brief, M/s ARSS Infrastructure Projects Ltd. (Corporate Debtor) was

admitted to Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (in short 'CIRP') by the

Adjudicating Authority on 30.11.2021 and Uday Narayan Mitra, was

appointed as an Interim Resolution Professional (in short 'IRP') and ultimately

appointed as Resolution Professional ('RP'). The Appellant filed their claim in

form-c of a sum of Rs. 919,78,94,038 as Financial Creditor of the Corporate

Debtor but the said claim was rejected by the RP on 28.01.2022. The Appellant

challenged the decision of the RP by way of an application filed under Section

60(5) of the Code before the AA which was rejected on the ground that it was

barred by limitation.

Aggrieved against the order of the Adjudicating Authority, the Appellant

preferred an appeal before this Tribunal, which was allowed vide order dated 30.08.2022 holding that the application filed by the Appellant before the RP

was well within limitation.

After the order dated 30.08.2022, the Appellant approached the RP on

09.09.2022 through email requesting him that in view of the order of this

Tribunal, the CoC be reconstituted and he be invited in the meeting. It was

also requested that till then no steps be taken in regard to resolution plan, if

any. In response to the email dated 09.09.2022 of the Appellant, the RP replied

on 11.09.2022, that in the order of the NCLAT there is no specific direction to

reconstitute the CoC of Corporate Debtor and that the order of this Tribunal

is being put up before the CoC as well as to the legal team for further course

of action and shall revert back to the Appellant soon. However, the Appellant

is aggrieved that the RP did not revert back thereafter and is afraid that in the

meantime the proceeding in regard to resolution plan, if any, may not be

completed. Consequently, the Appellant has filed the application bearing I.A.

No. 3615 of 2022, invoking Rule 31 of the NCLAT, Rules for seeking

clarification of the order dated 30.08.2022 as to whether it automatically

enjoins the RP to reconstitute the CoC of the Corporate Debtor by including

the Appellant in the CoC and to refrain from convening any other meeting till

the disposal of the application.

At the same time, an application bearing I.A. No. 3869 of 2022 is filed

by the RP invoking Rule 11 of the NCLAT Rules, 2016 seeking clarification of

the order dated 30.08.2022 as to whether the claim submitted by the

Appellant which has now been declared within limitation can be admitted

without verifying the same.

Though as per the procedure, notice in the application is to be issued

and reply of both the parties is to be taken but Counsel for the parties have

submitted that no reply is required to be filed as both the parties are concerned about the true import of the order and both the parties have filed the

application for seeking clarification.

We have heard Counsel for the parties and after examining the decision

of the Adjudicating Authority, prayer made in the appeal before this Tribunal

and the order ultimately passed by this Tribunal on 30.08.2022, the decision

of the RP as well as the Adjudicating Authority was not found correct to the

extent they had rejected the claim of the Appellant as a stale claim on the

ground of being barred by limitation and ultimately the decision taken by the

RP as well as Adjudicating Authority was set aside.

As a consequence thereof, RP is obliged to accept the claim submitted

by the Appellant but at the same time shall have a right to verify the claim on

merits. However, the RP shall take a decision in regard to claim submitted by

the Appellant on it merits on or before 31st October, 2022 without being

influenced by his earlier view. However, till then the proceedings before the

CoC regarding the consideration of Resolution Plan, if any, shall remain

suspended.

[Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain] Member (Judicial)

[Dr. Alok Srivastava] Member (Technical)

SC/RR