National Company Law Appellate Tribunal: Justice Bansi Lal Bhat (Acting Chairperson), Justice Anant Bijay Singh (Member, Judicial), Dr Ashok Kumar Mishra (Member, Technical), decided to reject the appeal of the appellant by making way for companies to pull out of ongoing corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP).
Vivek Bansal (Appellant) and Burda Druck India Pvt. Ltd. (Respondent) had entered into CIRP after the order of NCLT which made the appointment of ‘Interim Resolution Professional’ and imposed a moratorium period on the CIRP. The appellant filed the appeal in terms of Rule 11 of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016 for recording the settlement arrived at between the parties.
The Tribunal relied on the case of Swiss Ribbons (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, (2019) 4 SCC 17 in allowing exit from the ‘corporate insolvency resolution process’. The settlement had been reached between the two parties and ‘Committee of Creditors’ was not constituted, in exercise of powers conferred under Rule 11 of the NCLAT Rules, 2016. Therefore, the tribunal set aside the impugned order of NCLT dated 27th May, 2020. The tribunal allowed the respondent company to be released from all rigours of law and allowed it to function independently through its Board of Directors. It decided the fee and expenses of the Resolution Professional and ordered both the parties to make the payment equally. The tribunal said ,“We make it clear that in the event of default not adhering to the terms of ‘Settlement Agreement’ as regards the payment of the outstanding instalments, the ‘Operational Creditor’ shall be at liberty to seek revival/restoration of the ‘corporate insolvency resolution process’ proceedings before the Adjudicating Authority.”
The appeal was thus disposed of. [Vivek Bansal v. Burda Druck India (P) Ltd., 2020 SCC OnLine NCLAT 582 , decided on 14-07-2020]
