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Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 Quick review of Proposed Amendments

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Megha Mittal

(resolution@vinodkothari.com)

Amidst the lingering need to fill in certain critical gaps to ensure streamlining of corporate insolvency resolution process (“CIRP”), the Cabinet on 10.12.2019 approved the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 (“Amendment Bill”)[1] further to amend the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“Code”), which is now pending approval by the Houses.

The objective of the amendment being to remove difficulties, while it is expected that the amendments will have a retrospective impact to the extent possible, the Amendment Bill hints that the different provisions of the Amendment Bill shall be effective from different dates; and where the effect is retrospective in nature, it shall be deemed to be effective from the date the particular section originally came into force.

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Ablution by Resolution

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The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Second Amendment) Bill, 2019 seeks to wash out liability of corporate debtors resolved under IBC

-Sikha Bansal (resolution@vinodkothari.com)

 

Resolution under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘Code’) is a harbinger of fresh start of the corporate debtor, which passes into the control of a new management by the very application of section 29A. The fresh start would have no meaning if the corporate debtor or the new management thereof have to bear the brunt of offences which the corporate debtor or its officers committed prior to ablution under the Code – that is, one cannot be made to reap what they did not sow. As such, it was important to provide immunity to the corporate debtor and its assets, the successful resolution applicant and the new management personnel.

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Sectoral regulators empowered to petition insolvency of financial services providers: Central Govt notifies insolvency rules

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–Vinod Kothari

(resolution@vinodkothari.com) 

The Central Govt on 15th November notified rules of procedure for insolvency proceedings for financial services providers, thereby indicating that the resolution and liquidation process for financial services entities has been taken out from the proposed enactment dealing with distress of financial entities. Notably, the actions in case of distress of financial services firms is not limited to insolvency – regulators take prompt corrective action, depending on the severity of the distress.

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Financial Service Provider under the clutch of IBC? Nature of the “debt” vs. Nature of the “debtor”

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-Megha Mittal

(resolution@vinodkothari.com)

In a first of its kind, the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal, Principal Bench at New Delhi (“NCLT”) vide its order dated 04.11.2019[1] in the matter of Apeejay Trust v. Aviva Life Insurance Co. India Ltd., has initiated corporate insolvency resolution process against the Corporate Debtor, despite it being a financial service provider under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (“Code”).

In the above pretext, one may recall the order of the Hon’ble National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in the matter of Randhiraj Thakur v. Jindal Saxena Financial Services[2], wherein the Hon’ble Appellate Tribunal upheld that financial service providers shall not fall within the ambit of the Code. The order of the Hon’ble NCLAT in the said matter has been discussed in our articles “NBFCs and IBC- the Lost Connection”[3] and “State of Perplexity- Applicability of IBC on NBFCs”[4].

In this article, the author has made a humble attempt to analyse the order of the Hon’ble NCLT based on its facts, observations and the extant law.

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