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Chitranjan Vs MS Orris Compendium
Chitranjan Vs MS Orris Compendium
AT NEW DELHI
Versus
Compendium of Cases
1. Force Majure
Sunil Singh Vs.
Ministry of 2.1. vide its order dated 31.07.2012, imposed a ban on the
Environment &
Forests Paryavaran use of underground water for the construction
CWP-20032-2008 activities taking place in the region of Gurgaon and
adjoining areas. After the afore-mentioned order, the
entire construction work in Gurgaon region came to a
complete stand still. Further, the delay was also due
to ban on construction imposed by NGT every year
due to pollution. It is submitted that due to these
unforeseeable circumstances the force majeure
clauses of the Development Agreement and the
Apartment Buyer’s Agreement respectively, also came
into effect.
Navin Raheja vs. Shilpa 25. As per Clause 4.4 of Article- 25, 54,
Jain, 2020 SCC OnLine 55
NCLAT 46 4(‘ForceMajeure’),construction/continuation/completion
of the building/complex is subject to Force Majeure
Conditions which inter alia include delay on account of
non-availability of steel and/or cement or other building
materials or water supply or electric power or slow down,
strike, lock out or due to any dispute with the construction
agency employed by the Company, non-availability of
necessary infrastructure facilities being provided by the
Government for carrying development activities, pollution
clearances, court injunction, civil commotion or by
reason of war, enemy or terrorist action, earthquake, any
act of God and delay in grant of completion/occupation
certificate by the Government and/or any other public or
competent authority or if non delivery of possession is
beyond the control of the Company and in any of the
aforesaid events, the Company shall be entitled to a
reasonable extension of time for delivery of possession of
the said Apartment, depending upon the
contingency/prevailing circumstances at that time. The
Company as a result of such a contingency arising thereto
reserves, its right to alter or vary the terms and
conditions of allotment or if the circumstances beyond the
control of the Company so warrant the Company may
suspend the scheme.
54. The Adjudicating Authority before admitting an
application under Section 7 filed by allottee(s) will take
into consideration the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme
Court in “Pioneer Urban Land and Infrastructure
Limited &Anr. v. Union of India &Ors”(Supra), as
noticed in Paragraph 33 of this Judgment.
55. If the delay is not due to the ‘Corporate Debtor’ but
force majeure, as noticed above, it cannot be alleged that
the ‘Corporate Debtor’ defaulted in delivering the
possession.”
Parvesh Magoo v. Iro 17. Thus, given the law laid down by this Hon’ble 17, 19
Grace Realtech Private,
Supreme Court in the case of Pioneer Urban Land and
2020 SCC Online
NCLAT 421 Infrastructure Limited Vs. Union of India (2019) 8 SCC
416 (para 36 of this Judgment) it is held that the
AdjudicatingAuthority has to see whether the delay is due
to the Corporate Debtor and in case the delay is not due
to the Corporate Debtor, but force majeure as noticed
above, it cannot be alleged that the Corporate Debtor
defaulted in delivering the possession...
Tata Steel BSL Ltd. v. 18. A proper appreciation of the above quoted provisions 18
Varsha, reported at 2019
of the IBC would show that the IBC has been enacted in
SCC OnLine Bom 541
order to bring about a legislation to revive a corporate
debtor and to put it back on its feet and that the IBC is
not merely a recovery legislation for creditors. In that
sense, the emphasis of the IBC is on creating a situation
where a corporate debtor does not spiral into financial
destruction, and at the same time resolution of the
difficulties of a corporate debtor is achieved while
taking care of the interests of creditors. In this
balancing act sought to be achieved by the IBC, the
scheme that emerges from the provisions is that a
creditor, including operational creditor like respondent
No. 1, is required to approach the resolution professional
with details of its claim, including information about
pending litigation regarding the same. These aspects are
required to be taken into consideration by the resolution
professional when it recommends resolution plan of a
resolution applicant like the petitioner herein, in tune
with the object of the IBC.”
3. applicability of the principles of limitation over Insolvency proceedings
Asset Reconstruction “7. A perusal of the above would show that considering that the Limitation 7
Company (India) Act applies only to courts, unless made statutorily applicable to tribunals,
Limited v. Bishal the Committee was of the view that such Act should be made to apply to the
Jaiswal, 2021 SCC IBC as well, observing that though the IBC is not a debt recovery law, the
Online 321 trigger being “default in payment of debt” would render the exclusion of the
law of limitation “counter-intuitive”. Thus, it was made clear that an
application to the IBC should not amount to resurrection of time-barred
debts which, in any other forum, would have been dismissed on the ground
of limitation
Laxmi Pat Surana v. . Ordinarily, upon declaration of the loan account/debt as NPA that date 42
Union of India 2021 can be reckoned as the date of default to enable the financial creditor to
SCC Online SC 267 initiate action under Section 7 of the Code. However, Section 7 comes into
play when the corporate debtor commits “default”. Section 7, consciously
uses the expression “default” - not the date of notifying the loan account of
the corporate person as NPA. Further, the expression “default” has been
defined in Section 3(12) to mean non-payment of “debt” when whole or any
part or instalment of the amount of debt has become due and payable and is
not paid by the debtor or the corporate debtor, as the case may be. In cases
where the corporate person had offered guarantee in respect of loan
transaction, the right of the financial creditor to initiate action against such
entity being a corporate debtor (corporate guarantor), would get triggered
the moment the principal borrower commits default due to non-payment of
debt. Thus, when the principal borrower and/or the (corporate) guarantor
admit and acknowledge their liability after declaration of NPA but before
the expiration of three years therefrom including the fresh period of
limitation due to (successive) acknowledgments, it is not possible to
extricate them from the renewed limitation accruing due to the effect of
Section 18 of the Limitation Act. Section 18 of the Limitation Act gets
attracted the moment acknowledgment in writing signed by the party
against whom such right to initiate resolution process under Section 7 of the
Code enures. Section 18 of the Limitation Act would come into play every
time when the principal borrower and/or the corporate guarantor
(corporate debtor), as the case may be, acknowledge their liability to pay
the debt. Such acknowledgment, however, must be before the expiration of
the prescribed period of limitation including the fresh period of limitation
due to acknowledgment of the debt, from time to time, for institution of the
proceedings under Section 7 of the Code. Further, the acknowledgment
must be of a liability in respect of which the financial creditor can initiate
action under Section 7 of the Code.
Babulal 32. When Section 238-A of the Code is read with the above 32 49, 50
VardharjiGurjar v.
noted consistent decisions of this Court in Innoventive
Veer Gurjar
Aluminium Industries [Innoventive Industries Ltd. v. Icici Bank, (2018) 1
Industries Private
SCC 407 : (2018) 1 SCC (Civ) 356] , B.K. Educational
Limited (II), (2020)
15 SCC 1 Services [B.K. Educational Services (P) Ltd. v. Paras Gupta &
Associates, (2019) 11 SCC 633 : (2018) 5 SCC (Civ)
528] , Swiss Ribbons [Swiss Ribbons (P) Ltd. v. Union of India,
(2019) 4 SCC 17] , K. Sashidhar [K. Sashidhar v. Indian
Overseas Bank, (2019) 12 SCC 150 : (2019) 4 SCC (Civ)
222] , Jignesh Shah [Jignesh Shah v. Union of India, (2019) 10
SCC 750 : (2020) 1 SCC (Civ) 48] , Vashdeo R.
Bhojwani [Vashdeo R. Bhojwani v. Abhyudaya Coop. Bank
Ltd., (2019) 9 SCC 158 : (2019) 4 SCC (Civ) 308] , Gaurav
Hargovindbhai Dave [Gaurav Hargovindbhai Dave v. Asset
Reconstruction Co. (India) Ltd., (2019) 10 SCC 572 : (2020) 1
SCC (Civ) 1] and Sagar Sharma [Sagar Sharma v. Phoenix
ARC (P) Ltd., (2019) 10 SCC 353 : (2020) 1 SCC (Civ) 175]
respectively, the following basics undoubtedly come to the fore:
(a) that the Code is a beneficial legislation intended to put the
corporate debtor back on its feet and is not a mere money
recovery legislation;
(b) that CIRP is not intended to be adversarial to the corporate
debtor but is aimed at protecting the interests of the corporate
debtor;
(c) that intention of the Code is not to give a new lease of life to
debts which are time-barred;
(d) that the period of limitation for an application seeking
initiation of CIRP under Section 7 of the Code is governed by
Article 137 of the Limitation Act and is, therefore, three years
from the date when right to apply accrues;
(e) that the trigger for initiation of CIRP by a financial creditor
is default on the part of the corporate debtor, that is to say, that
the right to apply under the Code accrues on the date when
default occurs;
(f) that default referred to in the Code is that of actual non-
payment by the corporate debtor when a debt has become due
and payable; and
(g) that if default had occurred over three years prior to the
date of filing of the application, the application would be time-
barred save and except in those cases where, on facts, the delay
in filing may be condoned; and
(h) an application under Section 7 of the Code is not for enforcement of
mortgage liability and Article 62 of the Limitation Act does not apply to this
application.
NandkishoreHarikis 7. The contention of the Corporate Debtor that the Petition is
han Attal v. Marvel 7
hit by Law of Limitation has to be accepted in view of the fact
Landmarks Pvt. Ltd.,
2019 SCC Online that the date of the default mentioned in the petition is
NCLT 11200it
01.04.2014, but this petition was filed on 03.07.2019, which is
more than three years after the date of default. It is beneficial to
refer the judgements of the Hon'ble Supreme Court on
limitation in Insolvency & Bankruptcy Petitions, viz B.K.
Education Services Pvt. Ltd. v. Parag Gupta and
Associates ((2019) 11 SCC 633), Vashdeo R
Bhujwani v. Abhyudaya Cooperative Bank Ltd., (2019 SCC
OnLine SC 1159) and Sagar Sharma v. Phoenix ARC
Limited ((2019) 10 SCC 353), wherein it was held that Article
137 of the Limitation Act will apply to the proceedings wherein
three years is the limitation period. Hence, the Petition is liable
to be dismissed as hit by limitation.”
7. THE PROPOSED IRP SHOULD NOT BE APPOINTED AS AN IRP IN THE PRESENT CASE
IDBI Bank Limited v. 23. The other questions whether Mr. Vijaykumar V Iyer is 23, 24
Lanco Infratech
competent to act as an Interim Resolution Professional for the
Limited, 2017 SCC
Online NCLT 15292 applicant company. The Respondents by reply dated
04.08.2017 submitted that Mr. Vijay Kumar V. Iyer has been
appointed as Interim Resolution Professional for two more
companies viz. Binani Cement Limited (Bank of
Baroda v. Binani Cement Limited, CP(IB) No. 359/KB/2017,
Order dated 25th July 2017) and Bhushan Steel Limited
(State Bank of India v. Bhushan Steel Limited CP No.(IB) No.
201(PB)/2017, Order dated 26.07.2017). Therefore, not only
does this vitiate Form 2 filed by him but the Respondent
Company has serious concerns on the availability of the
interim resolution professional to effectively perform his
functions, verify numerous claims, prepare information
memorandum, run LITL as a going concern etc. especially in
context of the Respondent Company, whose debt structure and
operations are very complicated and complex. In this regard,
attention of this Hon'ble Tribunal is drawn to Paragraph 22 of
the Code of Conduct for Insolvency Professionals as provided
in the First Schedule of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board
of India (Insolvency Professionals) Regulations, 2016, which
reads as under:—
“22. An insolvency professional must refrain from
accepting too many assignments, if he is unlikely to be able
to devote adequate time to each of his assignments”.
24. We have also verified from the website and confirmed that
the said IRP has been very recently appointed as IRP to the
aforesaid two large companies only in the last week of July,
2017. Therefore, we agreed with the submissions of the
respondents considering his previous three assignments to
large companies and the current corporate debtor itself is a
large company we are of the prima facie view that the
proposed IRP would not find sufficient time to act as IRP for
the respondent Company. Most of the activities prescribed in
the IBC code are time bound. Therefore, we had suggested to
change the aforesaid IRP, accordingly the Financial Creditor
viz. IDBI proposed another IRP viz. Shri SavanGodiawala an
insolvency professional registered with Insolvency
Professional of ICAI having registration No. is IBBI.IPA-
001/IP-P00239/2017-2018/10468. The newly proposed IRP
has also confirmed that no disciplinary proceedings pending
against him, he does not currently serve as an IRP for any
company and he is eligible to be appointed as IRP to the
Corporate Debtor. We are satisfied with the above disclosures
made by the IRP viz. SavanGodiawala and accordingly we
appointed him as an IRP for the Corporate Debtor.”