Mandatory service of insolvency application on registered office is a prerequisite for admission under the IBC rules.

Proper service of a section 7 insolvency application on the corporate debtor's registered office, in the manner required by Rule 4(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016, is a mandatory precondition for admission. Where the record does not establish dispatch of the application to the registered office, and there is no proof that the registered office was shifted to the address used for service, the application is treated as not duly served. The Tribunal therefore declined to entertain the petition at the threshold and dismissed it for want of proper service.

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Issues: Whether the application to initiate corporate insolvency resolution process was liable to be entertained when it had not been properly served on the corporate debtor at its registered office as required by the applicable rules.

Analysis: Rule 4(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016 required the financial creditor to dispatch a copy of the application by registered post or speed post to the registered office of the corporate debtor. The record did not show that the corporate debtor's registered office had been shifted to the address used for service in the application. In the absence of proof of proper service at the registered office, the Tribunal held that the application was not duly served. The defect was treated as a mandatory procedural lapse, and the Tribunal declined to entertain the insolvency petition at the threshold.

Conclusion: The application was not maintainable for want of proper service and was dismissed.

Final Conclusion: The insolvency proceeding failed at the admission stage because compliance with the prescribed mode of service on the corporate debtor was not established.

Ratio Decidendi: Service of a section 7 insolvency application on the corporate debtor's registered office in the manner prescribed by Rule 4(2) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016 is a mandatory precondition for admission.

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