Extension under section 10A IBC: further three month period notified, adjusting insolvency timelines under the Code.
Central Government issues a notification under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, extending the temporal relief granted by the statute by a further three months from 25th December 2020; the Ministry of Corporate Affairs published the order (S.O. 4638(E)) implementing the extension for the purposes specified in the statute.

Assignment of debts and not readily realisable assets permitted during liquidation, subject to disclosure to liquidator and stakeholder consultation.
Creditors are permitted to assign or transfer debts during liquidation provided both parties disclose assignment terms and assignee identity to the liquidator, who must update the stakeholders' list. Liquidators may assign not readily realisable assets through a transparent process in consultation with the stakeholders' consultation committee to persons eligible to submit a resolution plan; "not readily realisable asset" includes contingent, disputed assets and assets tied to proceedings under the Code. Regulation 38(1) is amended to replace "cannot be readily or advantageously sold" with "could not be sold, assigned or transferred."

Information dissemination duty: Information utilities must share public insolvency announcements promptly with creditors in ongoing proceedings.
The amendment defines financial information as any public announcement made under the Code and inserts Regulation 21A requiring an information utility to disseminate every public announcement it receives or accesses, on the date of receipt or access, to its registered users who are creditors of the corporate debtor undergoing insolvency proceedings under the Code.

Evidence of default now includes bankers' book entries or tribunal orders; resolution professionals must disclose payment formulae to claimants.
Permits a financial creditor to furnish as evidence of default a certified copy of bankers' book account entries or a court/tribunal order where appeal has lapsed; requires specified insolvency materials to be filed on the Board's electronic platform for dissemination; and obliges the resolution professional, shortly after Adjudicating Authority approval of a resolution plan, to inform each claimant of the principle or formulae for payment of debts under the plan, applying to ongoing and commencing corporate insolvency resolution processes from commencement of these regulations.

Section 10A extension: further three-month period notified from 25 September 2020 for IBC operation.
The Central Government, exercising powers under Section 10A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code as inserted by the Second Amendment Act, 2020, notifies a further period of three months beginning 25 September 2020 for the purposes of that section; the notification is issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs with reference F. No. 30/33/2020-Insolvency and signed by the Joint Secretary.

Service of insolvency applications now requires serving the corporate debtor and the Board before filing, and updates forms.
Amendments require applicants to serve a copy of the insolvency application to the registered office of the corporate debtor and to the Board by registered post, speed post, by hand or by electronic means before filing with the Adjudicating Authority; Forms 1, 2, 5 and 6 are revised to record service and fee payment, new annexures for proofs of service are added, Form 2 expands disclosure of professional assignments, and a new Form 5A certifies bank credits as evidence for operational creditor claims.

Corporate insolvency resolution suspension limits initiation applications for post-25 March 2020 defaults under the insolvency code.
The Act inserts section 10A into the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 to suspend filing of applications for initiation of corporate insolvency resolution process for defaults arising on or after 25 March 2020. The suspension operates for six months from that date, or for such further notified period not exceeding one year, and no application may ever be filed for defaults occurring during the suspended period. Defaults committed before 25 March 2020 remain outside the suspension.

Annual report submission timelines set for audit, SAR issuance and submission to Ministry for parliamentary laying.
The substituted rule establishes specific milestones: availability of approved and authenticated annual accounts to the concerned Audit Office and commencement of audit by a fixed mid-year date; issuance of the final Separate Audit Report (SAR) in English with an Audit Certificate by a fixed date in the fourth quarter; and submission of the annual report and audited accounts to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for placement on the Table of Parliament by year-end.

Resolution plan voting rules: highest vote plan approved if meeting requisite votes, with tie breaker and re vote mechanisms.
Amendments direct that insolvency professionals be chosen with regard to the State or Union Territory having the highest number of creditors in the class, allow nearby State professionals where local capacity is lacking, require authorised representatives to circulate agendas and solicit preliminary views with a minimum twelve hour submission window opening at least twenty four hours after solicitation (not to be treated as voting instructions), and rework committee procedures: evaluate plans per the evaluation matrix, record deliberations, vote simultaneously, approve a single plan on requisite votes, approve the highest vote plan among multiple plans if it meets requisite votes, apply a pre announced tie breaker for equal votes, and re vote on the highest vote plan if none meet the requisite threshold subject to Code timelines.

Liquidator fee entitlement clarified: fees accrue on amounts realised or on amounts distributed irrespective of who realised them.
The amendment clarifies that a liquidator is entitled to a fee on amounts he realises even if he does not distribute them, and is entitled to a fee on amounts he distributes even if those amounts were not realised by him; it thereby ties fee entitlement to the distinct acts of realisation and distribution.

Appointment of liquidator requires corporate person to appoint an insolvency professional by resolution and notify the Board promptly.
Regulation 5 is substituted to require the corporate person to appoint an insolvency professional as liquidator, subject to regulation 6, and to effect any replacement by a resolution passed under the specified statutory clauses; the resolution must contain the terms and conditions of appointment including the remuneration payable, and the insolvency professional must intimate the Board of his appointment within three days.

Objective of Insolvency Professional Entities redefined: support services to insolvency professionals now sole permitted purpose.
The amendment substitutes regulation 12(1)(a) to provide that such entities' sole objective is to provide support services to insolvency professionals, thereby restricting their permissible purpose to ancillary support for insolvency practice and clarifying the scope of activities allowed under the Insolvency Professionals regulatory framework.

Exclusion of lockdown period suspends counting lockdown days in liquidation timeline computations under insolvency rules.
Regulation 47A excludes the period of the Central Government imposed COVID 19 lockdown from computation of timelines for any task in a liquidation process that could not be completed due to such lockdown, subject to the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016; the amendment is effective from 17th April, 2020 and was published to provide clarity on model time lines.

Time-line suspension: lockdown period excluded from corporate insolvency resolution timelines, altering calculation under the Code.
A new regulation excludes the period of the Central Government-imposed COVID-19 lockdown from the computation of time-lines for any activity in the corporate insolvency resolution process, stating that such lockdown periods shall not be counted for purposes of regulatory time-lines, notwithstanding the time-lines in the regulations and subject to the provisions of the Code.

Deemed authorisation for assignment where agency fails to act, and right to appeal rejections to Membership Committee.
The amendment provides that applications received from commencement of these regulations until 30th September, 2020 shall be deemed issued or renewed if an agency fails to act within thirty days; and where an application is rejected in that period the aggrieved applicant may appeal to the Membership Committee within thirty days of receipt of the rejection order.

Fee payment extension for insolvency professionals extends deadline and mandates reporting of director or partner changes.
Amendments effective 28 March 2020 add provisos extending the deadline for payment of fees due for financial year 2019-2020 to on or before 30th June, 2020, and require insolvency professional entities to inform the Board within thirty days when an individual ceases to be, or joins as, a director or partner between commencement of the amendments and 31st December 2020.

Late filing fee for insolvency resolution forms attracts monthly penalties after the due date effective retrospectively.
The substituted sub regulation (4) to regulation 40B requires any Form filed after its prescribed due date, whether by correction, updation or otherwise, to be accompanied by a fee of five hundred rupees per Form for each calendar month of delay counted after 1st October, 2020, with an illustrative example showing escalating monthly fees tied to the date of filing.

Minimum default threshold under section four of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code specified to limit insolvency initiation.
Notification by the Central Government prescribes a minimum amount of default under the proviso to section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, establishing the statutory floor for defaults that may trigger insolvency commencement proceedings.

Recognition of housing fund debt under IBC enables priority treatment for financing stalled affordable housing projects.
Notification designates a debt raised from the Special Window for Affordable and Middle-Income Housing Investment Fund I as a debt under clause (15) of section 5 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and defines the Fund as a Central Government-sponsored alternate investment fund registered with SEBI to provide priority debt financing for completion of stalled affordable and middle income housing projects.

Filing deadline fee schedule updated; example sets tiered fees for on-time and successive late filings through April to June.
Corrigendum replaces the Example illustrating the fee schedule for a Form due by 29th April, 2020: zero fee if filed on or before 29th April, 2020, a specified late fee for 30th April, 2020, and escalating fees for any day in May and any day in June, 2020.