TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2025 (1) TMI 1798
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....nd disposed of IA (IB) 237/KB/2022 filed by Resolution Professional (RP) for approval of the Resolution Plan which was submitted by the Appellant. The Appellant aggrieved by the approval of the Resolution Plan has come up in the Appeal. 2. Brief facts of the case necessary to be noticed for deciding the Appeal are: i. CIRP against the Corporate Debtor, Duncan Industries Limited commenced vide Order dated 05.03.2020. ii. On 18.09.2020, 'Form-G' was published. Information Memorandum was issued by the RP on 10.10.2020, which reflected the status of 12 Tea Gardens, which as the Assets of the Corporate Debtor. iii. In pursuance of 'Form-G', Resolution Plans were submitted. iv. Appellant was also one of the Resolution Applicants who has submitted Resolution Plan. Resolution Plan of the Appellant came to be approved by Committee of Creditors (CoC) with 99.20% vote shares in e-voting, which completed on 24.02.2022. v. Letter of Intent (LoI) was issued to the Appellant on 01.03.2020. Out of total plan value of Rs. 173.20 Crores, Appellant deposited the amount of Rs. 20.43 Crores which include Security Deposit and the EMD. vi. I.A. No.....
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....24 passed by this Tribunal. It is submitted that Appellant's Intervention Application was also rejected by this Tribunal in its Judgment dated 02.08.2024. Appellant has already filed Civil Appeal No. 13077-13081/2024 before the Hon'ble Supreme Court challenging the Order dated 02.08.2024, which is pending. The core issue regarding the Assets that constituted Corporate Debtor's portfolio is pending consideration before the Hon'ble Supreme Court. Appellant in the Hon'ble Supreme Court has challenged the exclusion of 9 Tea Estates from the Assets of the Corporate Debtor and the State of West Bengal have separately filed Appeal challenging the inclusion of 3 Tea Estates in the Assets of the Corporate Debtor. Hon'ble Supreme Court on 22.11.2024 has issued notices. There are other Company Appeals filed against the Impugned Order by M/s. Marico Agro Industries Private Limited, the State of West Bengal and Nagari Farms Tea Company Limited. It is submitted that above situation called for intervention of this Tribunal. It is submitted that there were certain inadvertent errors in the Order of the Adjudicating Authority which required correction however Adjudicating Authority refused to recti....
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....Gardens. As noted above, RP after commencement of the CIRP has filed Applications before the Adjudicating Authority for taking possession of various Tea Gardens, which Applications were rejected by Adjudicating Authority, challenging which Orders, Company Appeals were filed by RP in this Tribunal. This Appellate Tribunal after hearing the RP has delivered the Judgment on 02.08.2024, deciding all the Appeals arising from various Orders passed by the Adjudicating Authority rejecting the Application of RP. This Tribunal after hearing the Parties including the State of West Bengal has held that leases of 3 Tea Gardens, namely Garganda, Kilcott and Bagracote have been renewed and valid. In Paragraphs 120 and 121 of the Judgment of this Tribunal following was held: "120. In view of the foregoing discussions and conclusions, we held that leasehold rights of the Corporate Debtor subsist in three Tea Gardens, namely - Garganda, Kilcott and Bagracote, where the lease has been renewed and valid as follows: Sl. No. Tea Estate Valid upto 1. Garganda 08.09.2026 2. Kilcott 23.08.2025 3. Bagarcote Div. I 22.05.2028 121. The orders rejecting the....
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.... 23.08.2025 3. Bagarcote Div. I 22.05.2028 18. Therefore, we make it clear that a part from these three Tea Gardens, Two Tea Gardens whose freehold ownership has not been disputed namely Terai Land and Madarihat, the SRA will not be automatically be entitled to claim those as assets of Corporate Debtor. In regard to the rest of the Tea Gardens, for which lease period has expired or the Tea Gardens are in possession with others, SRA is free to take steps for renewal of the Leases and get the possession of the same, if granted. This is as per orders are passed by Hon'ble NCLAT dated 02.08.2024." 8. The Resolution Plan has been approved. Paragraphs 41 and 42 of the Impugned Order is as follows: "41. Subject to the compliance of decisions of Hon'ble NCLAT Principal Bench, New Delhi passed on 02.08.2024, in the matter of Company Appeal (AT) (INS) No. 593 of 2022 & IA No. 3172 of 2022 (Ram Ratan Modi, Resolution Professional of Duncans Industries Limited Versus Sammelan Tea and Beverages Pvt. Ltd. & Ors.) made in the said Order and compliance of directions in Para 17 & Para 24 (supra), the Resolution Plan in question is hereby APPROVED by this Bench....
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....ssets of the Corporate Debtor for resolution of insolvency. There is no argument raised by the Appellant that approval of the Resolution Plan which has been approved by the CoC is non-compliant of Section 30(2) of the IBC. The law is well settled that Adjudicating Authority/Appellate Tribunal has very limited jurisdiction to interfere with the approval of the Resolution Plan. In this context, we refer to the Judgment of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the matter of 'K. Sashidhar' Vs. 'Indian Overseas Bank & Ors.' reported in (2019) 12 SCC 150, Paragraphs 52 and 59: "52. As aforesaid, upon receipt of a "rejected" resolution plan the adjudicating authority (NCLT) is not expected to do anything more; but is obligated to initiate liquidation process under Section 33(1) of the I&B Code. The legislature has not endowed the adjudicating authority (NCLT) with the jurisdiction or authority to analyse or evaluate the commercial decision of CoC much less to enquire into the justness of the rejection of the resolution plan by the dissenting financial creditors. From the legislative history and the background in which the I&B Code has been enacted, it is noticed that a completely new appr....