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Judgment
Heard Learned Counsel for the Appellant.
This Appeal has been filed against the Order dated 12th November, 2021 by which I.A. No. 103/JPR/2021 in CP No. (IB)-262/7/JPR/2019 filed by the Appellant was disposed of as infructuous on the ground that Resolution Plan has already been approved vide Order dated 07.10.2021.
The Appellant’s case is that the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against the Corporate Debtor were initiate on 30th January, 2020 and Public Announcement was made 02.02.2020 and he also received the Letter from IRP on 07.03.2020 and sent his proof of claim in Form-B on 17.03.2020 by Courier and thereafter Lock-down was imposed in March, 2020. The Appellant’s case is that the Appellant again submitted his proof of claim by Email Dated 12.03.2021 and he received Reply on the same day i.e. 12.03.2021 by the RP that the claim could not be accepted as the Committee of Creditors has already approved the Plan which has been submitted before the Adjudicating Authority for approval of the same.
Against the Email dated 12.03.2021, the Application bearing I.A. No. 103/JPR/2021 was filed which has been rejected by the Impugned Order. Learned Counsel for the Appellant submits that he has earlier sent his proof of claim by Courier on 17th March, 2020 to the IRP and thereafter Lock-down was imposed and the Office was closed till October, 2020 when he came to know that Courier have not been delivered, he again sent an Email with proof of claim on 12th March, 2021 to the Resolution Professional.
The Email issued by the Resolution Professional dated 12th March, 2021 states as follows:
“……..
This is reference to the trial email in which you have filed the claimed in the capacity of operational creditor in the CIRP Proceedings of RG Buildestate Private Limited but I am very sorry to say that time period of filing the claim has already been expired. We have already communicated twice to your good self after publication of notice in newspaper dated 02/02/2020 through email dated 14.02.2020 and also sent the letter on 07.03.2020 by post but we did not received any response.
As per CIRP Regulation 12(2)-
“A creditor, who fails to submit claim with proof within the time stipulated in the public announcement, may submit that claim with proof to the interim resolution professional or resolution professional, as the case may be, on or before the ninetieth day of the insolvency commencement date”.
So, your good self has filed the claim after 90 days and further, want to update you that the resolution plan has been approved by the CoC and submitted with Hon’ble NCLT for approval and the present status is yet to be approved by Hon’ble NCLT.”.
The Resolution Professional in the Email dated 12th March, 2021 has clearly stated that although communication was sent on 07th March, 2020 but no response was received. There is no material to indicate that the proof of claim was submitted on 17th March, 2020 by the Appellant and when on 12th March, 2021 email was sent at that time CoC had already approved the plan. Learned Counsel for the Respondent submits that CoC approved the Plan on 06th August, 2020.
We thus do not find any error in the decision communicated by the Resolution Professional rejecting the proof of claim of the Appellant. Ld. Adjudicating Authority has also not committed any error in disposing the Application as infructuous on the ground that Resolution Plan has already been approved vide Order dated 07.10.2021.
Learned Counsel for the Appellant lastly submits that on 12th March, 2021, when he has sent an Email, the Resolution Plan had not been approved by the Adjudicating Authority and it got approval only on 07.10.2021.
Be that as it may, the Resolution Plan had been approved by the CoC on 06.08.2020 and the application was filed before the Adjudicating Authority for approval. Hence, there was no error in the communication sent by Resolution Professional on 12th March, 2021. We do not find any error in the Impugned Order and accordingly, the Appeal is dismissed.