Delayed insolvency claims after resolution plan approval were not admitted, and flat allotment for legal fees was not treated as financial debt.

Delayed claims cannot ordinarily be admitted after approval of a resolution plan in a time-bound insolvency process, especially where the claimant is a commercial entity and its name does not appear in the corporate records relied upon by protected allottees; the refusal to condone delay was upheld. A claim based on allotment of flats in lieu of legal fees was also not a financial debt, because there was no disbursal to the corporate debtor against consideration for the time value of money, and the real-estate allottee treatment was inapplicable on these facts; the rejection on merits was upheld.

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Issues: (i) whether the delay in filing the claim could be condoned and the claim admitted in the CIRP after approval of the resolution plan; (ii) whether the appellant's claim based on allotment of flats in lieu of legal fee constituted a financial debt recoverable in the CIRP of the corporate debtor.

Issue (i): whether the delay in filing the claim could be condoned and the claim admitted in the CIRP after approval of the resolution plan.

Analysis: The claim was filed after substantial delay and after the resolution plan had already been approved by the Committee of Creditors and was pending before the adjudicating authority. The appellant was a commercial entity and could not claim the same treatment as homebuyers whose claims were protected on account of entries in the corporate records. The record did not show the appellant's claim in the list of allottees attached to the sale certificate, and the reasoning applied in the cited homebuyer decision was held inapplicable on these facts. In a time-bound insolvency process, reopening claims after plan approval would unsettle the process and prejudice resolution.

Conclusion: The delay was not liable to be condoned, and refusal to admit the claim on that ground was upheld against the appellant.

Issue (ii): whether the appellant's claim based on allotment of flats in lieu of legal fee constituted a financial debt recoverable in the CIRP of the corporate debtor.

Analysis: The claim arose from alleged allotment of flats in exchange for legal services, not from any disbursal by the appellant to the corporate debtor. The sale certificate and annexed list of allottees showed protection only for named allottees, and the appellant's name did not appear in that list. A financial debt under the insolvency framework requires disbursal against consideration for time value of money, and the deemed borrowing treatment for real estate allottees did not apply where no amount had been raised from the appellant as an allottee. On that basis, the claim could not be brought within the definition of financial debt.

Conclusion: The claim was not a financial debt and its rejection on merits was against the appellant.

Final Conclusion: The challenge to the rejection of the claim failed both on delay and on maintainability in insolvency, and the dismissal of the appeal was sustained.

Ratio Decidendi: A delayed claim cannot be admitted after resolution plan approval in a time-bound insolvency process unless it is otherwise supported by the corporate debtor's records, and a claim based on allotment of flats in lieu of professional fee, without disbursal against consideration for time value of money, does not constitute financial debt.

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