National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT): A two-member bench comprising of Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya, Chairperson and Justice Bansi Lal Bhat, Member (Judicial), while dismissing an appeal filed under Section 61 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 held that Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India had no locus standi to file the appeal.
The appeal was filed by the IBBI against the order passed by National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai contending that the interpretation of Section 29A made therein by the Tribunal was not correct that resulted in selection of an ineligible Resolution Applicant and further approval of an ineligible resolution plan. The Appellate Tribunal noted that the IBBI is a regulatory body required to act in terms of Sections 196 and 240 I&B Code.
At the outset, the Appellate Tribunal observed, IBBI could not be held to be an aggrieved person under the Code. Further, it was held that the interpretation challenged as mentioned above may not be proper, but the IBBI had no locus standi to challenge the same. Referring to Section 30, the Board observed that it is the duty of the Resolution Professional to find out which resolution plans are in conformity with provisions of the Code. Further, in case of any wrong finding by the Adjudicating Authority (NCLT), it is the Resolution Professional, who represents the Corporate Debtor, to prefer an appeal under Section 61. While dismissing the appeal for the aforesaid reasons, liberty was given to IBBI to inform the Resolution Professional to move an appeal under Section 61. [Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India v. Wig Associates (P) Ltd., 2018 SCC OnLine NCLAT 386, order dated 01-08-2018]