MUMBAI : Interim resolution professionals are authorized to change the claim amounts submitted by creditors if additional information is available to them, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal said.
The NCLAT’s observations were related to the insolvency process of Atharva Auto Logistics, which was initiated by the National Company Law Tribunal, in February 2022.
Uday Kumar Bhaskar Bhat, who was appointed as interim resolution professional to run the day-to-day operations of Atharva, reduced the claim amount of ₹6 crore by financial creditor Intec Capital to ₹3 crore after verification. Subsequently, Intec filed a plea challenging Bhat’s decision, but the NCLT rejected it in January 2023.
NCLAT upheld the NCLT order on Monday after Intec moved the appellate tribunal for relief.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and Barun Mitra said, “The adjudicating authority has rightly taken the view that no error was committed by the resolution professional (RP) in reducing the amount of the claim of an appellant. We don’t find any error in the impugned order.”
According to Bhat, in 2018, the financial creditor had won an arbitral award worth ₹1.35 crore. However, when the RP calculated Intec’s claims, he found that the amount of ₹1.35 crore was advanced by Intec as a loan to Atharva, along with other entities. The dispute regarding the said loan went into arbitration. and Atharva Auto was ordered to pay ₹1.35 crore along with interest of 19% per annum as part of the arbitration.
The NCLT said the claim of the applicant had been calculated correctly for the purpose of determining the applicant’s voting rights, and no illegality or infirmity appeared to have been committed by the IRP.
The tribunal also held that even otherwise as per Regulation 14(2) of CIRP Regulations 2016, the RP has the right to revise the amount of the claim as and when he comes across additional information warranting a revision.
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