COVID-19 lockdown exclusion applied to CIRP computation, with the disputed period kept out of the resolution timeline.

The period from 06.07.2021 to 28.02.2022 was excluded while computing the corporate insolvency resolution process period, in line with COVID-19-related directions extending limitation and excluding lockdown time for judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. The exclusion was considered by reference to the Supreme Court's directions, the NCLAT's approach to excluding lockdown time in CIRP computation under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and Regulation 40C of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016, which provides that lockdown time is not to be counted for tasks that could not be completed due to such lockdown.

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Issues: Whether the period from 06.07.2021 to 28.02.2022 was liable to be excluded while computing the period for completion of the corporate insolvency resolution process.

Analysis: The exclusion was sought in the context of the COVID-19 disruption and the binding directions extending limitation and excluding the lockdown period for judicial and quasi-judicial proceedings. The request was examined with reference to the Supreme Court's directions on exclusion of the period from 15.03.2020 to 28.02.2022, the NCLAT's exclusion of lockdown time for computation of the resolution process under Section 12 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and Regulation 40C of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016, which provides that the lockdown period shall not be counted for tasks that could not be completed due to such lockdown.

Conclusion: The period from 06.07.2021 to 28.02.2022 was excluded for computing the CIRP period.

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