Operational creditor must prove its own claim; tribunal cannot compel the corporate debtor to produce documents in admission stage.

In a summary insolvency proceeding under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the Adjudicating Authority's role at admission is confined to checking whether the material placed before it shows debt and default. It cannot compel the corporate debtor to file affidavits or produce financial records to help the operational creditor prove its claim. The operational creditor must establish its own case on the basis of evidence it adduced, and a request to obtain documents from the opposite party was held to be beyond the tribunal's limited jurisdiction in a section 9 proceeding. The request was therefore rejected and the application dismissed.

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Issues: Whether the Adjudicating Authority could direct the corporate debtor to file an affidavit and produce documents to assist the operational creditor in proving its claim in the insolvency petition.

Analysis: The application sought disclosure of balance sheets, ledgers, trial balances and other financial records from the corporate debtor so that the operational creditor could substantiate its case. The order held that in proceedings under section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, the Adjudicating Authority exercises a limited jurisdiction at the stage of admission and only examines the authenticity of the material placed before it to see whether debt and default are made out. It was further held that the operational creditor must prove its own case and cannot seek to build its claim on the basis of documents to be produced by the opposite party. The request was treated as beyond the tribunal's jurisdiction and unsupported in a summary insolvency proceeding.

Conclusion: The request for directions against the corporate debtor to file the demanded documents was rejected, and the application was dismissed.

Ratio Decidendi: In a summary insolvency proceeding, the operational creditor bears the burden of proving its claim, and the Adjudicating Authority cannot compel the corporate debtor to produce documents to assist that proof.

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