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Judgment
ORDER
Ld. Liquidator, Ms. Sudha Sarma present in person. This is an application filed under section 60(5) of IBC, 2016, seeking the following reliefs:
a. Allow the present application;
b. Pass on order granting exclusion of the period from 19th December 2023 to 15th, January 2024 (or till such further date on which this application may be allowed) in the calculation of the liquidation period and for computing the timelines for compliances/ reporting thereunder and also for computing the Liquidator's fee under Regulation 4 of the IBBI (Liquidation Process) Regulations 2016;
c. Pass on order declaring January 16, 2024 or such further date on which this application may be allowed as the liquidation commencement date.
Vide order dated 19.12.2023 passed in IA (IBC)/67/GB/2023 in CP (IB)/5/GB/2018, Liquidation of Corporate Debtor- Blue Fern Ventures Private Limited was initiated and Ms. Sudha Sharma, the Applicant herein was appointed as the Liquidator of the Corporate Debtor.
It is submitted that the said order dated 19.12.2023 was communicated by the Registry to the Applicant/Liquidator vide email dated 8th January 2024 i.e., after 20 days from the passing of the order. Since, the Applicant/ Liquidator was not a party in the aforesaid matter, hence she was not aware about the passing of the order and her appointment as liquidator until the order was communicated to her on 8th January 2024.
It is further submitted that the Applicant on not receiving the online link for filing the written consent and for accessing the case records of the matter, vide email dated 12.01.2024 requested the Registry to provide the online link. The Online link was provided to the Applicant/ Liquidator on l6th January 2024 on re-opening of NCLT office after the festive vacation (Bihu), i.e. after 8 days from the communication of the aforesaid order.
It is further submitted that immediately on the receipt of the online link, the Applicant filed her written consent to act as the Liquidator of the Corporate Debtor. However, by that time the liquidation process was already delayed by 28 days, viz. 20 days from l9th December 2023 to 8th January 2024 on account of not receiving the order and then by another 8 days from 9th January 2024 to l6th January 2024 on account of not receiving the online link for accessing the case records and filing of the consent.
It is further submitted that since the law provides only 30 days' time from the liquidation commencement date to receive claims from the stakeholders, and since a period of 28 days had already elapsed by then, hence there was a serious difficulty in floating the public announcement as stakeholders would have been left with very less time or may be with almost no time to file their claims with the liquidator.
It is further submitted that there is a stern need to exclude the period from 19th December 2023 till the present application is allowed from the liquidation period, before floating the public announcement inviting claims from the stakeholders. The whole liquidation process is strictly time bound in nature and even for this reason also the delay is likely to jeopardise and frustrate the interest of the liquidation/ stakeholders thereof and also the liquidator, if the inordinate delay not due to any fault or laches on the part of the liquidator is not excluded in computing the liquidation commencement date.
Therefore, keeping in view of the foregoing grounds/ causes, the Liquidator has filed the present application to request this Bench to exclude the exclude the delay period from 19th December 2023 till the present application is allowed from the liquidation period.
Taking into consideration all the facts and circumstances of the case, the material on record and on the interest of all the stakeholders, this bench is of the considered view that it is just and proper to exclude the delay period from 19th December 2023 to 22nd January 2024 from the Liquidation period, i.e. till the date of this Order. Hence, period of 34 days i.e. from 19th December, 2023 to 22nd January 2024 stands excluded, the liquidation date of the Corporate Debtor- Blue Fern Ventures Private Limited now commences from 22.01.2024.
The Liquidator in view of the exclusion granted as above is directed to abide by the model timelines as prescribed by IBBI in Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2016 and thereby complete the process in all earnest and in accordance with the said regulations including the filing of reports as required, with this Tribunal.
With the above-said directions, IA (IBC)/15/GB/2024 in CP (IB)/5/GB/2018 stands allowed and disposed of.