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Judgment
O R D E R
Per: Prabhat Kumar, Member (Technical)
This Application has been filed by Rakhee Jotkar & Others (Employees of Karthik Alloys Ltd.) under Section 60(5)(a) of the Code against the Resolution Professional (RP) seeking direction to the RP and CoC to include Terminal benefits of the employees in the resolution plan. The Prospective Resolution Applicant and Financial Creditor i.e. State Bank of India has also been made party in this Application.
We have perused the Application and find that the present application is in relation to inclusion of claim of PF, ESI and Gratuity due to the employees of the Corporate Debtor. This issue is covered by the Hon’ble NCLAT decision in the case of Jet Aircraft Maintenance Engineer’s Welfare Association (2022) ibclaw.in 861, which has, subsequently, been upheld by the Hon’ble Supreme Court {(2023) ibclaw.in 12 SC}. Further this decision has been followed by Hon’ble NCLAT Chennai in the case of Ms. C.G. Vijay Laxmi Vs. Sri Kumar Rajan, RP Hindustan News Print Limited, (2023) ibclaw.in 123 NCLAT and the Hon’ble Tribunal has further held that in view of the decision in Jet Aircraft case (supra), the question whether there was fund maintained by the Corporate Debtor or not pales into insignificance.
Following these decisions, we hold that the amount of PF, ESI and Gratuity due to the employees of the Corporate Debtor are to be considered for payment in full as these amounts do not form part of Corporate Debtor’s liquidation estate. This IA-1786/2022 is allowed and disposed of, accordingly.