Liquidation under the Insolvency Code can proceed after CIRP expiry when no resolution plan is pending and delay would defeat the timeline.

Liquidation may be ordered under section 33(1)(a) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code where the maximum CIRP period has expired and no resolution plan is pending before the Adjudicating Authority. The absence of a specific CoC resolution for liquidation did not bar relief, because section 33(2) applies only where liquidation is proposed during CIRP on the basis of a CoC-approved decision. Ancillary objections that the request had become infructuous were rejected as hyper-technical, since further delay would undermine the Code's time-bound framework. Liquidation was therefore found maintainable and ordered.

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Issues: Whether liquidation could be ordered under section 33(1)(a) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 when the maximum CIRP period had expired and no resolution plan was pending, and whether the absence of a specific CoC resolution for liquidation or the pendency of ancillary objections could defeat such relief.

Analysis: The liquidation application was examined in the light of section 33(1)(a), which empowers the Adjudicating Authority to order liquidation where, before expiry of the CIRP period or the maximum period permitted under section 12, no resolution plan is received under section 30(6). The absence of a pending resolution plan before the Adjudicating Authority was treated as the factor. The objection that liquidation required a CoC resolution under section 33(2) was rejected as applicable only where liquidation is proposed during the CIRP on the basis of a CoC-approved decision. The contention that the application had become infructuous was also rejected as hyper-technical, since keeping the matter pending and compelling further CoC action would frustrate the time-bound object of the Code.

Conclusion: Liquidation was held to be maintainable and was ordered in favour of the respondent.

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