Upon requests for urgent listing of cases having been made telephonically to Registrar of this Appellate Tribunal from various persons, who were unable to physically file the same on account of complete lockdown declared by Government with effect from 25th March, 2020.
In view of the above, Bench comprising of Justice Bansi Lal Bhat (Actg. Chairperson) and Justice Anant Bijay Singh] Member (Judicial) and Dr Ashok Kumar Mishra] Member (Technical) takes suo moto cognizance of the unprecedented situation arising out of spread of COVID19 virus declared a pandemic.
Having regard to the hardships being faced by various stakeholders as also the legal fraternity, which go beyond filing of Appeals/ cases, which has already been taken care of by the Hon’ble Apex Court by extending the period of limitation with effect from 15th March, 2020 till further order/s in terms of order dated 23rd March, 2020 in Suo Motu Writ Petition (Civil) No(s).03/2020, inasmuch as certain steps required to be taken by various Authorities under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 or to comply with various provisions and to adhere to the prescribed timelines for taking the ‘Resolution Process’ to its logical conclusion in order to obviate and mitigate such hardships, this Appellate Tribunal in exercise of powers conferred by Rule 11 of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016 r/w the decision of this Appellate Tribunal rendered in “Quinn Logistics India Pvt. Ltd. v. Mack Soft Tech Pvt. Ltd. in Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No.185 of 2018” decided on 8th May, 2018 do hereby order as follows: –
(1) That the period of lockdown ordered by the Central Government and the State Governments including the period as may be extended either in whole or part of the country, where the registered office of the Corporate Debtor may be located, shall be excluded for the purpose of counting of the period for ‘Resolution Process under Section 12 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, in all cases where ‘Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process’ has been initiated and pending before any Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal or in Appeal before this Appellate Tribunal.
(2) It is further ordered that any interim order/ stay order passed by this Appellate Tribunal in anyone or the other Appeal under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 shall continue till next date of hearing, which may be notified later.
The above order is to be circulated to all all benches of NCLT, New Delhi.
In Re Competition Act, 2002, this Appellate Tribunal do hereby order as follows: –
(1) That interim direction / stay order passed in all competition Appeals shall continue until further order.
(2) In the event of expiry of period of Fixed Deposits, the concerned bank shall renew the same for further period of six months.
In Re National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Rules, 2016 do hereby order as follows: –
(1) It is ordered that any interim order/ stay order passed by this Appellate Tribunal in anyone or the other Appeal under the Companies Act, 2013 shall continue till next date of hearing, which may be notified later.
[Suo Moto – Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 01 of 2020, Order dt. 30-03-2020]
