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Judgment
ORDER
I.A. 3862/2022
Heard Adv. Raina Birla appearing for the applicant. The above application is filed by the successful bidder, Ganesh Enterprises who purchased Corporate Debtor as a going concern in the auction conducted by the liquidator seeking various reliefs. Even though the applicant claimed several reliefs, the counsel appearing for the applicant during the course of the argument restricted for grant of the following prayers in terms of clauses 3, 12, 15, 16, and 18:
3.That a direction be issued to change the status of the corporate debtor in the Registrar of Companies records from the status of ‘Under Liquidation’ to ‘Active’ as per procedure under law.
12.That a direction be issued that the bid submitted by the petitioner for all practical purposes should be considered to be a resolution plan under Section 79 of the Income Tax, 1961.
15.That a direction be issued that the Creditors including bank and other financial creditors, to take necessary action to get the name of the Corporate Debtor removed from defaulter/wilful defaulter/fraud lists with Credit Information Companies (e.g. CIBIL), TransUnion CIBIL, NeSL, CERSAI, RBI Information Utilities under the IB Code, wilful defaulter list if any etc. and to treat the account of the Corporate Debtor as regular and standard.
16.That a direction be issued that the Successful Bidder and the Corporate Debtor are not responsible for any other claims, liabilities or obligations of the Corporate Debtor having paid the sale consideration as stated above.
18.That a direction be issued that the Corporate Debtor and the Successful Bidder shall not be liable for any other liabilities / compliances, including statutory liabilities/ compliances in the form of tax, fees, cess, duties such as rental dues, property tax dues, water and sewage tax dues and vacant land taxes etc, in relation to any of the assets of the Corporate Debtor, for the period prior to the date of the order of the Hon’ble NCLT, granting these reliefs.
In support of the above reliefs, she has invited the attention of this bench to the order of the Coordinate Bench of Amaravati Bench in Dr. G.V.Narasimha Rao Vs. Hruday Infra and Resources Solutions Private Limited whereunder the similar reliefs sought by the petitioner therein were granted by the NCLT Amaravati Bench. In addition to the above, the coordinate bench of NCLT Mumbai Court-I also granted similar reliefs in the case of Janhavi Dixit and another Vs. Rajat Kukherjee, Liquidator.
After hearing the counsel appearing for the applicant and upon perusing the above case law, this bench feels that the petitioner is entitled to the above relief claimed in above referred prayer clauses ‘3’, ‘12’, ‘15’, ‘16’ & ‘18’ to run the Corporate Debtor smoothly as a going concern.
Accordingly, the above application is partly allowed in terms of prayer clauses ‘3’, ‘12’, ‘15’, ‘16’ & ‘18’ directing the Registrar of Companies to change the status of the Corporate Debtor in the Company Record from the status of ‘under liquidation’ to ‘Active’ on furnishing this order copy by the applicant. With the above direction, the above I.A. 3862/2022 is disposed of.
I.A. 50/2023
Adv. Atishay Jain appearing for the applicant/liquidator is present. The above application is filed by the liquidator under section 35(1)(n) of the Code seeking closure of the liquidation process in view of the successful sale of the Corporate Debtor as a going concern. Accordingly, the above application is allowed closing the liquidation proceedings and discharging the liquidator. Detail order follows:
The above application filed by the liquidator under section 35(1)(n) of the Code seeking closure of the liquidation process in view of the successful sale of the Corporate Debtor as a going concern.
The applicant submits that a CIRP order passed by this bench against the Corporate Debtor vide its order dated 12.02.2019 appointing Mr. Rajendra K Bhutta as IRP. Thereafter, this tribunal vide its order dated 11.06.2019 appointed the applicant, Mr. Vijay Pitamber Lulla as Resolution Professional of the Corporate Debtor. Since no plan was received, the COC decided to liquidate the Corporate Debtor and this bench vide its order dated 21.02.2022 passed liquidation order appointing the applicant as a liquidator.
The applicant has timely submitted the following progress report before this tribunal:
| Sr. No. | Particulars | Date of filing of progress report |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | 1st Progress Report | 12.04.2022 |
| 2. | 2nd Progress Report | 20.07.2022 |
| 3. | 3rd Progress Report | 15.10.2022 |
The applicant conducted two e-auctions according to Regulation 32(e) on 25.05.2022 and 30.06.2022 for the sale of the Corporate Debtor as a going concern and the reserve price was fixed at Rs. 150 lakhs but both e-auctions failed as no bidder participated in the bidding. Accordingly, the applicant again made a public announcement for inviting express of interest for sale of the CD as going concern on 05.09.2023.
The applicant submits that as per the e-auction an amount of Rs. 15,00,000/- was to be deposited as EMD amount to participate in the e-auction bidding and accordingly, M/s Ganesh Enterprise was declared as successful bidder for purchasing the Corporate Debtor as going concern.
The applicant conducted 2nd stakeholders meeting on 07.10.2022 for informing about the successful sale of the corporate debtor as a going concern and also for assigning the application filed under Section 43, 45, 50 & 66 of the code. Thereafter, the liquidator issued various letters to successful bidder for sale of the certificate, handing over title documents and keys of factory premises in favour of the M/s Ganesh Enterprises. The copy of the sale certificate dated 19.10.2022, letter issued for handing over the title documents dated 20.10.2022 and on 04.11.2022 issued handing over the keys to successful bidder by the liquidator is annexed to the application.
The applicant submits that the details of the pending litigation are as follows:
a. Application filed under Section 43,45,50 & 66 bearing I.A. 1041/2022 which is pending before this tribunal.
b. Application filed by the successful bidder under section 60 (50 of the code bearing I.A. No. 3862 of 2022.
The applicant submits that the compliance as per the Regulation 45 of the Liquidation Regulations, hereby attached the compliance checklist in Form-H. The applicant further submits that the Bank of Maharashtra and ICICI bank has issued letter dated 27.12.2022 and 15.12.2022 for closure of liquidation account of the Corporate Debtor which is annexed to this application. In view of the above, the applicant prayed for closure of the liquidation process.
After hearing the counsel appearing for the applicant, the above application is allowed closing the liquidation process of the Corporate Debtor. Since the liquidation process has completed, the liquidator is relieved from his duties.
With the above directions, the above I.A. 50/2023 is disposed of.