TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2021 (2) TMI 872
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....ber of the Indian Institute of Insolvency Professionals of ICAI (IPA) and an IP registered with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) with Registration No. IBBI/IPA-001/IP-P00274/2017-2018/10518. 1.1 The IBBI had issued on 27th August, 2020, the SCN to Mr. Romesh Chander Sawhney for accepting the assignment as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) of MLP Developers & Promoters Private Limited after 31st December 2019 without holding a valid Authorisation for Assignment (AFA) issued to him by his IPA. 1.2 Mr. Romesh Chander Sawhney submitted reply to the SCN dated 2nd September, 2020. The IBBI referred the SCN, response of Mr. Romesh Chander Sawhney to the SCN and ....
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....n health problem in the month of December 2019. As he did not have any assignment in hand on 1st January 2020 and his office staff could not interpret regulation 7A of the IP Regulations and thought it was not applicable to them. (iii) it was an unintentional procedural lapse without any ill motive, resulting from oversight of the newly incorporated provisions. Also, he has not received any fees or any monetary gain from this assignment till date. (iv) he further submits that he had applied for AFA on 9th June 2020 by filing an online application on Form No. AA with the IPA to rectify the procedural lapse. He has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India since 1984 and served impeccably for more than....
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.... (b) the date of expiry of his authorisation for assignment 4.2 Thus, it is clear from the said Regulation that one of the essential conditions for undertaking any assignment by an IP is that he should have a valid AFA which is issued by the IPA with which he is enrolled. In other words, without AFA, an IP is not eligible to undertake assignments or conduct various processes thereof. Regulation 7A was inserted in the IP Regulations vide notification dated 23rd July 2019, much before 31st December, 2019. Adequate time was given to the professionals to obtain AFA from respective IPAs. 4.3 The bye-laws of Indian Institute of Insolvency Professionals of ICAI defines in para 4(1)(aa) the expression "authorisation for assignment" means an ....
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....e as follows: "7. Certificate of registration. (2) The registration shall be subject to the conditions that the insolvency professional shall - (a) at all times abide by the Code, rules, regulations, and guidelines thereunder and the bye-laws of the insolvency professional agency with which he is enrolled; (h) abide by the Code of Conduct specified in the First Schedule to these Regulations;" 4.6 The credibility of the processes under the Code depends upon the observance of the Code of conduct by the IRP/RP/Liquidator during the process. Section 208(2) of the Code provides that every IP shall take reasonable care and diligence while performing his duties and to perform his functions in such manner and ....