CORPORATE INSOLVENCY RESOLUTION PROCESS (CIRP) UNDER INSOLVENCY AND BANKRUPTCY CODE, 2016

INTRODUCTION :-

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as “IBC, 2016”) was notified by the Government of India on 28th May 2016. The Act consolidates and amends the laws relating to reorganisation and insolvency resolution of corporate persons, partnership firms and individuals in a time bound manner for maximisation of value of assets of these persons, to promote entrepreneurship, availability of credit and balance the interests of all the stakeholders. IBC, 2016 also altered the order of priority various payment dues; and put the payments of workmen’s dues in foremost priority over Government dues. The payments of Government dues are kept after payment of financial debts owed to unsecured creditors. IBC, 2016 provides the complementary ecosystem for the insolvency law, and aims to ensure smoother settlement of insolvency cases, enable faster turnaround of businesses and provide for creating a database of creditors.

The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (hereinafter referred to as “CIRP”) can be initiated by making an application to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by the  Financial Creditors under Section 7 of IBC, 2016 by Operational Creditors under Section 9 of the IBC, 2016 and by the Corporate Debtor himself under Section 10 of the IBC, 2016. The basic departure from the old law and fundamental rule under this new codified law is that a company which has gone insolvent cannot start the Liquidation process at the primary stage until and unless it has gone through the process of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), under the said resolution process options for revival of the company is looked into and if the said resolution process fails then only the company goes into liquidation.

STAGE-WISE PROCESS FOR INSOLVENCY:-

In case a corporate debtor makes a default in repayment of dues of the creditors, the financial creditor/s, an operational creditor or a corporate debtor through Corporate applicant or any authorised member, a person who has the controlling capacity over the financial affairs of the corporate debtor has the power to start the insolvency resolution process. In order to initiate the resolution process, an application has to be made to National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under (Section 10, IBC, 2016 in case of Corporate Debtor, Section 7 and 9 of IBC, 2016 in case of Financial Creditors and Operational Creditors).

A ten days demand notice under (Section 8(2) of IBC, 2016 in case of Operational Creditors) has to be given to the corporate debtor by the Operational Creditors before he approaches the NCLT under Section 9 of IBC, 2016). However, an operational creditor can directly approach the NCLT if the corporate debtor does not repay the outstanding dues or fails to show any existing difference.

The new code states that the insolvency process of a Corporate Debtor must be concluded within 180 days from the date of initiation in the NCLT (Section 12, IBC of 2016). The claims of the Creditors shall be frozen for a period of six months on admission of application by NCLT. During this time, the NCLT shall listen to the options to revive and decide the future course of action. It is further clarified that unless a resolution plan is made or liquidation process is initiated, no legal claim shall be sought against the corporate debtor in any other forum or Court (Section 14 of IBC, 2016).

When the application for insolvency is accepted under Section 7/9/10 of IBC, 2016 the NCLT within fourteen days appoints an Insolvency Resolution Professional (IRP) on receiving a confirmation from Board of Insolvency and Bankruptcy.The appointed IP then takes up the responsibility of the debtor’s properties and functioning. He also collects all the information that is relevant with regard to the financial condition of the debtor from information utilities. IP is appointed for a term of thirty days only within which he does all the necessary scrutinization (Section 18, IBC, 2016).

The next step is to make a public announcement about the commencement of corporate insolvency process so that claims from any other creditors can also come forward, if any. A creditor’s committee is constituted by the IRP post receiving any claims by public announcement (Section 13 of IBC, 2016). In the event any financial creditor is a related party of the defaulting debtor, such a creditor will not have the right to represent, participate or vote in the committee of creditors so constituted by the IP. In order to be a part of the Creditor’s Committee, the average dues of the operational creditors must be at least ten percent of the debt. The Committee of Creditors shall first seven days of its incorporation decide through seventy five percent votes whether the interim IRP should be used as a Resolution Professional or should be replaced with someone else.

After the Committee finalizes the Resolution Professional he is appointed by the NCLT (Section 16 of IBC, 2016). The Resolution Professional so appointed can be replaced anytime by the Creditor’s Committee with a majority of seventy five percent votes. In the interim, i.e. till the appointed of any new Resolution Professional, the Creditor’s Committee can take decisions with regard to insolvency resolution by seventy five percent majority voting.

In the event majority (75%) of the financial creditors are of the view that the case is very complex and more time extension is required, the NCLT may grant a one-time extension of up to a maximum of 90 days over and above the pre decided tenure of 180 days. It shall be the sole responsibility of the Resolution Professional to manage and conduct the corporate insolvency resolution procedure during such a term (Section 18 of IBC, 2016).

To enable the resolution applicant for preparing a resolution plan, the Resolution Professional shall compile a statistics note. A resolution applicant can be defined as an individual who has the duty and responsibility to submit a resolution plan to the Resolution Professional. The Creditor’s Committee further receives the plan from the Resolution Professional for its approval.

On the resolution being approved, the next step by the Creditor’s Committee is to come up with options on restructuring which can be either coming up with a modified repayment plan or to simply liquidate the properties of the company in order to recover dues. If the Creditor’s Committee fails to take any binding decision with regard to the repayment by the debtor, the debtor’s assets are liquidated in order to pay back the creditors. If there is a plan prepared for resolution, the same shall be sent to NCLT for approval and implementation.

LIQUIDATION

The liquidation process commences only if:

The Creditors Committee fails to submit the resolution plan with the provided time frame to the NCLT.

The Resolution Plan is rejected because of non-adherence to the Code.

The Creditor’s Committee takes a decision for liquidating the assets by a majority vote.

The resolution plan is flouted by the debtor.

As mentioned above, no suit can be instituted by or against the corporate debtor during liquidation process (Section 14 of IBC, 2016). The only exception, in this case, can be through the liquidator representing the corporate debtor based on the permission of the NCLT. The liquidator shall be the same person as the Resolution Professional lest replaced. The liquidator so appointed shall constitute the liquidation estate which shall comprise of all the properties, whether financial or immovable, of the corporate debtor. The claims of the creditors may be received, verified, admitted or rejected based on the final decision of the liquidator within a prearranged time. In order to appeal to the adjudicator, the creditor gets a total of fourteen days.

Based on the priority, a security creditor may receive the proceeds from sale of assets or realize the security interest by enforcing or dealing with the secured asset as per the applicable laws related to him. He may either relinquish his security interest or realize it based on his intent. Any supplementary sum so realized shall be submitted to the liquidator. Although the security creditors will be paid by the liquidator on priority basis out of the corporate debtor’s assets, his claim shall be considered subordinate to the unsecured creditors to the extent of deficit. The distribution shall be in manner laid down in the Code. All those persons who have any sort of individual rights over the assets of the debtor shall also form a part of the liquidation procedure. There are certain funds which cannot be attached to the estate of the debtor for recovery of debts. Such funds are provident fund, gratuity fund and the pension fund because this amount belongs to the employees and workmen and hence they are given the priority with regard to these funds. Once all the assets of the corporate debtor are liquidated, the NCLT passes an order to finally liquefy the corporate debtor.

IMAAD M. KHAN

SENIOR ASSOCIATE