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Judgment
O R D E R
05.03.2024: This appeal is directed against the order dated 08.12.2023 by which an application filed by the Appellant bearing I.A No. 4329 of 2023 has been dismissed on the ground that the Appellant has filed this application to review the order passed in I.A. No. 4039 of 2023 which was disposed of on 07.09.2023.
Brief facts of this case are that the Operational Creditor filed an application under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (in short ‘Code’) against the Corporate Debtor. The said application was admitted on 05.10.2021 and Kairav Anil Trivedi was appointed as Interim Resolution Professional (in short ‘IRP’).
The IRP filed I.A. No. 2977 of 2022 for the approval of the resolution plan which was allowed on 15.05.2023. The Appellant has challenged the order dated 15.05.2023 by way of an appeal bearing CA (AT) (Ins) No. 792 of 2023 which is pending before this Court. It is alleged by the Appellant that during the pendency of the appeal, the resolution plan has been implemented on 30.06.2023.
The Appellant is the Proprietor of the Operational Creditor, filed I.A No. 4039 of 2023 seeking direction to the Registry to provide certified copy of the resolution plan and the copy of I.A. No. 2977 of 2022 alongwith all documents. This application was dismissed on 07.09.2023 holding that “It is well settled that an appeal is nothing but a continuation of the proceedings. Therefore, strictly speaking, the approval of the resolution plan is still subjudice. Accordingly, in our considered view, the Applicant cannot be held entitled to be supplied a copy of the plan. More so, since the RP or the Monitoring Committee have not been impleaded, no order with regard to supplying the copy of the plan and other document can be passed at their back.” The order dated 07.09.2023 was not challenged by the Appellant by way of an appeal. However, the Appellant filed another application I.A. No. 4329 of 2023 on 25.09.2023 after impleading RP as a party and made the same prayer to provide the certified copy of the resolution plan and all documents. The said application has now been dismissed by the impugned order on the ground that “the present application is form of the review of the order which has already been disposed of in I.A No. 4039 of 2023 on 07.09.2023 and the review is not maintainable in view of the decision of the Hon’ble NCLAT in Union Bank of India (erstwhile Corporation Bank) Vs. Dinkar T. Venkatasubramanian&Ors.” Aggrieved against the order, the present appeal has been filed.
Counsel for the Appellant has submitted that the appeal against the order dated 15.05.2023 for approval of the resolution plan is pending before this Court and in the impugned order liberty has been given to the Appellant to seek suitable reliefs including for making available a copy of the resolution plan to effectively satisfy the appellate court. Counsel for the Appellant has submitted that the Appellant is entitled to the copy of the resolution plan in terms of the decision of this Appellate Tribunal rendered in the case of Association of Aggrieved Workmen of Jet Airways (India) Limited Vs. Jet Airways (India) Ltd. &Ors. (Manu/NL/0069/2022).
We have heard Counsel for the Appellant and perused the record with their able assistance.
The issue involved in this case travel in a narrow compass because the Application filed by the Appellant has been dismissed by the Adjudicating Authority only on the ground that the Appellant cannot seek the same relief which has already been declined on 07.09.2023 while disposing of the application i.e. I.A. No. 4039 of 2023 and the present application i.e. I.A. No. 4329 of 2023 has been filed in the garb of a review. Counsel for the Appellant, during the course of hearing, has candidly admitted that review is not maintainable because it is not provided in the Code as the power of review is the creation of statute and cannot be inferred through inherent powers.
Thus, we do not find any error in the impugned order by which the application i.e. I.A. No. 4329 of 2023 filed by the Appellant has been dismissed. Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed. No costs.