TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2024 (2) TMI 676
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....n filed by Standard Chartered Bank and State Bank of India under Section 7 of the Code, Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP in short) commenced against Essar Steel India Limited by Order dated 02.08.2017. The Appellant filed the Resolution Plan in the CIRP of Essar Steel India Limited which plan was approved by the Order of the Adjudicating Authority dated 08.03.2019. The approval of the Resolution Plan of Essar Steel India Limited was subject matter before the Hon'ble Supreme Court and the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India vide order and Judgment dated 15.11.2019 approved the Resolution Plan, judgment is reported as Committee of Creditors of Essar Steel India Limited though its authorised signatory Vs. Satish Kumar Gupta & Ors., (2020) 8 SCC 531. Between 05.09.2022 to 05.01.2024, several petitions and applications have been filed before the Adjudicating Authority in relation to approval of the Resolution Plan of Essar Steel India Limited dated 02.08.2017 by the Adjudicating Authority. The Respondent No. 1 and 2 in the Appeal have also filed several applications. There have been series of litigation subsequent to filing of the Applications in September, 2022, the Contemp....
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....No. 247 - IA/994(AHM) 2023 in IA/873(AHM) 2022 ITEM No. 248 - IA/996(AHM) 2023 in IA/757(AHM) 2022 ITEM No. 249 - IA/1282(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 250 - IA/1283(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 251 - IA/1352(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 252 - Cont. P/16(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 253 - Cont. P/17(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 254 - Cont. P/18(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 255 - IA/1386(AHM) 2023 in IA/1282(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 256 - IA/1387(AHM) 2023 in IA/1283(AHM) 2023 ITEM No. 257 - IA/1388(AHM) 2023 In C.P. (IB) 40 of 2017 Proceedings under Section 7 IBC IN THE MATTER OF: State Bank of India ........Applicant V/s Essar Steels Ltd. .......Respondent Order delivered on: 09/01/2024 Coram: Mr. Shammi Khan, Hon'ble Member(J) Mr. Sameer Kakar, Hon'ble Member(T) PRESENT: For the Applicant : Mr. Monaal Davawala, Ld. Adv. Mr. Deepak Khosla, Ld. Adv. For the SBI & IDBI : Mr. Saurabh Soparkar, Ld. Sr. Adv. a. w. Mr. Parth Gokhle, Ld. Adv., Mr. Shalin Jani, Ld. Adv. & Ms. Moulshree, Ld. Adv. I/b. Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas For the Arcelor Mittal : Mr. Mihir Thakore, Sr. Adv. a/w. Mr. Nirag Pathak, Adv. :Ms. Ruby Singh, Adv. Ms. Manisha Narsinghani, Adv. :Mr. Vishal Gehrana, Adv. Mr. Varun Khanna, Adv. :Mr. ....
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.... of the Adjudicating Authority and thereby compelling them to recuse themselves from hearing the Interlocutory Applications which were pending adjudication before them. The Counsel representing the Contesting Respondents (and certain other parties) after the conclusion of hearing on 08.01.2024, in a manner completely unknown to law, ostensibly acting "as an officer of the court", addressed an email to the Ld. Member (Judicial), Ld. Adjudicating Authority. A bare perusal of the email, which is filed along with this Appeal, ex-facie demonstrates the calculated psychological offensive sought to be deployed by the Counsel representing the Contesting Respondents in order to put pressure on the Ld. Members to get them to somehow to recuse themselves from the matter. The Impugned Order, followed by the consequential directions dated 17.01.2024 by Hon'ble President, NCLT, of transferring the matters from Court No. 1 to Court No. 2 of the Ld. Adjudicating Authority has created an unfortunate and a dangerous precedent. The conduct of the Contesting Respondents (and certain other parties) as well as its Counsel, appears to deliberately prejudice the judicial proceedings and cause ma....
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....in its Judgment in "O.P. Sharma & Ors. Vs. High Court of Punjab and Haryana" reported in (2011) 6 SCC 86 had quoted Bar Council of India Rules which contains a duty to the Court by a professional. One of the rule 3 of Section 1 under heading "duty to the court" is relevant. We can extract paragraph 13 of the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court where relevant rules have been quoted which is as follows: "13. Section I of Chapter -II, Part VI titled "Standards of Professional Conduct and Etiquette" of the Bar Council of India Rules specifies the duties of an advocate towards the Court which reads as under: Section I - Duty to the Court ...... 3. An advocate shall not influence the decision of a court by any illegal or improper means. Private communications with a judge relating to a pending case are forbidden." 9. The proceeding before a Court or a Tribunal between the parties are proceeding which are conducted in the open court in a transparent manner. Both the parties are fully entitled to make their respective submissions, file their pleadings after serving the copy of the pleadings to other side. Justice P.B. Gajendragadkar, C.J. speaking on behalf of Constitution Benc....
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....1.2024 which is filed along with Appeal as Annexure A-18 clearly indicates that the said email is not part of any proceeding or any application or affidavit filed in the Court. The email has been directly sent by the counsel to the Registrar of NCLT, Ahmedabad for attention of Ld. Judicial Member especially when 08.01.2024 was a date on which the Adjudicating Authority heard the parties and passed an order fixing 26.02.2024 as next date. Any request or application ought to have been made to the Court not by sending an email to Ld. Judicial Member. 12. The Order impugned is an order by which both the Members recused themselves from the matters. The Order dated 09.01.2024 recusing by both the members is subject matter of the Appeal. We after perusing the order dated 09.01.2024 are of the view that the decision taken by both the members to recuse themselves from the matter cannot be interfered with in exercise of our appellate jurisdiction. Members having been recused themselves, we are unable to grant any relief to the Appellant as against the order dated 09.012024. 13. We further notice that by a subsequent order passed by the President dated 17.01.2024 as extracted above, the mat....