National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, Chennai: A Division bench comprising of M. Venugopal, J., and Shreesha Merla* (Technical Member), held that there is no provision in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) for Corporate Debtor to constitute Committee of Creditors (CoC) with a single Operational Creditor
In the instant matter, vide order dated 20-01-2019, the Adjudicating Authority directed the initiated of CIRP against the Corporate Debtor. The appellant-IRP sent a letter to the Corporate Debtor, to handover the possession of the Corporate Debtor, but the same was returned ‘unclaimed'. The appellant preferred an appeal before the Adjudicating Authority seeking dismissal of the CIRP since the Corporate Debtor has been struck off from Registrar of Companies (RoC) for non-filing of the financial statements. The Adjudicating Authority vide order dated 06-12-2021 dismissed the application and held that even if the IRP has received the claim from only the Operational Creditor, he is required to constitute the CoC with the sole Operational Creditor. Aggrieved by the impugned order passed by the Adjudicating Authority, the appellant preferred an appeal before the NCLAT challenging the same.
The NCLAT observed that “there is no provision in the Code for the Corporate Debtor to constitute the CoC with a single Operational Creditor”, when no single claim is received since the public announcement being made for the initiation of CIRP against the Corporate Debtor into CIRP.
While setting aside the impugned order passed by the Adjudicating Authority, the NCLAT held that the CIRP be closed with respect to the Corporate Debtor, because IRP did not receive a single ‘Claim' even after the public announcement, moreover, the Corporate Debtor has been struck off from the RoC.
[V. Duraisamy v. Jeyapriya Fruits and Vegetables Commission Agent, 2023 SCC OnLine NCLAT 285, order dated 23-06-2023]
*Judgment by Shreesha Merla (Technical Member)
Advocates who appeared in this case :
Mr.B. Thilak Narayanan, Counsel for the Appellant
