Practice and Procedure – A Tribunal or a Court is invested with such ancillary or incidental powers as may be necessary to discharge its functions effectively for the purpose of doing justice between the parties and, in absence of a statutory prohibition, in an appropriate case, it can recall its order in exercise of such ancillary or incidental powers – A Court or a Tribunal, in absence of any provision to the contrary, has inherent power to recall an order to secure the ends of justice and/or to prevent abuse of the process of the Court – Ordinarily, an application for recall of an order is maintainable on limited grounds, inter alia, where (a) the order is without jurisdiction; (b) the party aggrieved with the order is not served with notice of the proceedings in which the order under recall has been passed; and (c) the order has been obtained by misrepresentation of facts or by playing fraud upon the Court /Tribunal resulting in gross failure of justice. (Para 48- 50)
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016; Section 60 – NCLT Rules, 2016; Rule 11- Whether in exercise of powers under sub-section (5) of Section 60, the Adjudicating Authority (i.e., NCLT) can recall an order of approval passed under sub-section (1) of Section 31 of the IBC? Recall application was maintainable notwithstanding that an appeal lay before the NCLAT against the order of approval passed by the Adjudicating Authority – Even in absence of a specific provision empowering the Tribunal to recall its order, the Tribunal has power to recall its order – Section 60(5)(c) of the IBC, which opens with a non-obstante clause, empowers the NCLT (the Adjudicating Authority) to entertain or dispose of any question of priorities or any question of law or facts, arising out of or in relation to the insolvency resolution or liquidation proceedings of the corporate debtor or corporate person under the IBC. Further, Rule 11 of the NCLT Rules, 2016 preserves the inherent power of the Tribunal. (Para 50-52)
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 – Resolution Professional is under a statutory obligation to collate the data obtained from (a) the claim(s) made before it and (b) information gathered from the records including those maintained by the CD. The data so collated forms part of the information memorandum. Based on that information, the resolution applicant(s) submit(s) plan. In consequence, even if a claim submitted by a creditor against the CD is in a Form not as specified in the CIRP Regulations, 2016, the same has to be given due consideration by the IRP or the RP, as the case may be, if it is otherwise verifiable, either from the proof submitted by the creditor or from the records maintained by the CD. A fortiori, if a claim is submitted by an operational creditor claiming itself as a financial creditor, the claim would have to be accorded due consideration in the category to which it belongs provided it is verifiable. (Para 30)
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 – Resolution Plans – Ordinarily, feasibility and viability of a plan are economic decisions best left to the commercial wisdom of the COC. However, where the plan envisages use of land not owned by the CD but by a third party, such as the appellant, which is a statutory body, bound by its own rules and regulations having statutory flavour, there has to be a closer examination of the plan’s feasibility – Where on the part of the CD there were defaults in payment of instalments which, allegedly, resulted in raising of demand and issuance of pre-cancellation notice. In these circumstances, whether the resolution plan envisages necessary approvals of the statutory authority is an important aspect on which feasibility of the plan depends. (Para 54(c))
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016; Section 30(2) – Though commercial wisdom of the COC in approving a resolution plan may not be justiciable in exercise of the power of judicial review, the Adjudicating Authority can always take notice of any shortcoming in the resolution plan in terms of the parameters specified in sub-section (2) of Section 30 of the IBC coupled with Regulations 37 and 38 of the CIRP Regulations 2016. If any such shortcoming appears in the resolution plan, it may send the resolution plan back to the COC for re-submission after satisfying the parameters so laid down. Likewise, the appellate authority can also interfere upon noticing any shortcoming in the resolution plan while exercising its powers under Section 32 read with Section 61 (3) of the IBC. (Para 33)
Summary: Appeal against NCLAT order dismissing appeal against order passed by the NCLT approving the resolution plan – Appeal allowed and resolution plan shall be sent back to the COC for re-submission – Neither NCLT nor NCLAT while deciding the application /appeal of the appellant took note of the fact that,- (a) the appellant had not been served notice of the meeting of the COC; (b) the entire proceedings up to the stage of approval of the resolution plan were ex parte to the appellant; (c) the appellant had submitted its claim, and was a secured creditor by operation of law, yet the resolution plan projected the appellant as one who did not submit its claim; and (d) the resolution plan did not meet all the parameters laid down in sub-section (2) of Section 30 of the IBC read with Regulations 37 and 38 of the CIRP Regulations, 2016. (Para 55)