Insolvency claim classification cannot change after admission; operational debt admitted in CIRP cannot be recast as workmen's dues.

Claims filed in the corporate insolvency resolution process as operational debt through a vendor/sub-contractor could not later be reclassified as workmen's dues to claim parity with directly employed workmen. The admitted claims had been submitted in Form B and treated throughout the process as operational creditors, while workmen's dues were separately recognised and given distinct treatment in the resolution plan. The insolvency framework permits differential treatment between creditor classes, and workmen's dues rank differently from operational debt. Once a claim is admitted in one category, it cannot be transposed into another at the stage of challenge to approval of the resolution plan. The differential treatment in the approved plan was therefore valid.

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Issues: Whether claims filed in the corporate insolvency resolution process by persons engaged through a sub-contractor and admitted as operational debt could later be treated as workmen's dues so as to claim parity with directly employed workmen in the approved resolution plan.

Analysis: The admitted claims were traced to proof of claim submitted in Form B as operational debt by a vendor/sub-contractor and not as claims by workmen. The resolution process had already classified and admitted such claims as operational creditors, while workmen's dues were separately recognised and given a different treatment in the resolution plan. The statutory scheme under the insolvency code and the insolvency regulations permits differential treatment between distinct classes of creditors, and workmen's dues stand on a higher footing than operational debt under the distribution framework. Once a claim has been filed and admitted in a particular category in the corporate insolvency resolution process, it cannot be transposed into another category at the stage of challenge to approval of the resolution plan.

Conclusion: The claim could not be reclassified as workmen's dues, and the differential treatment given in the resolution plan was valid.

Ratio Decidendi: A claim admitted in the corporate insolvency resolution process in one creditor class cannot later be recast into a different class to seek parity, and a resolution plan may lawfully provide differential treatment to distinct creditor categories in accordance with the insolvency framework.

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