"We are in receipt 

of your email requesting to deposit the liquidation cost. 

The said request is being objected to here as:  

1. Firstly your (liquidator's) application seeking relief for payment of liquidation cost
and fees is pending adjudication. Thus demanding any fees when said application is
subjudice before the Hon'ble Tribunal is inappropriate. Further, in absence of any
approval for liquidator's fee by the COC or in the liquidation order, your charges of
Rs. 1.18 lacs as Liquidator fee  is legally not maintainable.  Also when it has also
been recorded in 1st stakeholders meeting held on 16th December 2019, that
liquidator may seek appropriate directions from the Adjudicating Authority in
regard to the liquidators fee upon disposal of assets, as the realization from sale of
assets forming liquidation estate would be less than the value of full CIRP cost and
Liquidation expense. 

Response- We wish to inform you that Payment towards liquidation cost and fees
are not pending for adjudication. As per the Order of the Hon’ble Tribunal
dated 31.03.2021, specific directions were given to ICICI bank with respect to the
payment towards Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process cost, Liquidation cost
and parking charges. Copy of the order is attached for your reference.
Accordingly, the balance amount has to be borne by HDFC Bank.

You should appreciate the fact that liquidator has not been paid since the
commencement of Liquidation in the captioned matter dated 07.08.2019 and the
Liquidator and its IPE has been putting considerable human-hours to complete
the assignment which is stuck due to dispute amongst the two Lenders and the
closure is getting inordinately and unnecessarily delayed.

2. Secondly, as per the attached chart, your claim to liquidator’s fees over and above
the proportionate fee based on realization and distribution fee, is contrary to the
Liquidation Regulations. You may note that regulation 1 (ea) of the Liquidation
Process defines as to what would entail liquidation cost and thereunder it is stated
that the liquidator is entitled to the fees as mentioned in regulation 4. As per
Regulation 4 , the Liquidator is entitled to the fees equivalent to the amount
realized or distributed by the  Liquidator. Apparently, there is no other rule or
category under which Liquidator is entitled to both (fixed fees & fees as per
realization of assets).   Thus you claim anything beyond the regulation is not
maintainable. 

Response- We would like to draw your attention to Regulation 4 (2) (a) of The
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) Regulation,
2016 which says that “
 (2) In cases other than those covered under sub-regulation (1), the liquidator
shall be entitled to a fee-

at the same rate as the resolution professional was entitled to during the
corporate insolvency resolution process, for the period of compromise or
arrangement under section 230 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013);

Therefore the claim sent to you by the liquidator is maintainable.

Further, we wish to inform you that the Hon’ble Tribunal vide its order dated
22.10.2018 ordered and directed HDFC bank and ICICI bank to take further
steps for the sale of the car. The directions given by the Hon’ble Tribunal have
not been complied yet by HDFC bank and ICICI bank even after 31 months of
passing the order. Due to the same the value of the assets of the Corporate
Debtor has deteriorated further.

3. We are unable to get any clarifications for what purpose "professionals" are
appointed? How many professionals are appointed? What are their per month fees?
Was such fees ever approved by the Stakeholders? Or please share the minutes,
where such appointment of professionals were even informed / shared with the
stakeholders.

Response: It is a matter of fact and should be noted that under The Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation Process) Regulation, 2016, the
liquidator is not required to take approval of stakeholders for appointment of
professionals. The liquidator is free to appoint professional to assist him
carrying out the process. Further, please be apprised that the liquidator has
appointed two registered valuers for assessing the value of the vehicles of the
Corporate Debtor for a meagre sum of Rs 5000 each plus applicable taxes. The
same was already discussed in the 1st stakeholders meeting. The same was also
shared with you in the excel sheet provided by the undersigned.

4. Considering the lock-down in 2020 and ongoing lock-down due to COVID-19 ,

please share details of work carried out by the professionals charging fees in this
period.

Response : The details of the all the expenses have been duly shared with you
and ICICI bank in the excel sheet which includes the appearance of advocate on
behalf of the liquidator. We are again attaching the same for your reference.

5. We would like to know how many advocates are being appointed? What are their
per month fees ? Is it as per effective date of hearing or on a monthly basis? Was
such fees ever brought to the notice of stakeholders or approved by the
Stakeholders? If yes, Please share the minutes, where such appointments of
advocates were even informed / shared with the stakeholders.
 Response :- The liquidator is taking the services of Mr. Gaurav Gupta who is
providing his advocacy services to the liquidator. Further, he is providing his
services as per appearance basis (Rs 7,000 per appearance) (Rs. 5,000 for non-
effective hearing). The same was discussed in the last stakeholders meeting. The
said fee is for effective as well as non-effective hearing.

       Please note that due to aforesaid objections and also as your application in this
regard is pending adjudication before the AA, therefore we regret that we cannot pay
the amount as claimed by you. Further, we assume that you must have asked the other
stakeholder ICICI Bank also for the said liquidation cost. you are requested to kindly
share with us their response to the same.
Response :- In view of the clarifications given above, we request you to please
release your share of liquidation cost incurred/estimated till date for smooth
running of the Liquidation Process. Also, we request you to release the vehicle to
ICICI Bank for its disposal in terms of the orders of Hon’ble NCLT so that we can
proceed for dissolution.