TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (6) TMI 1236
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....ty years, in terms of the provisions of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957. (ii) That on 06.03.2014, the Opposite Party instituted Complaint Case bearing No. 2(C) C.C. No. 19 of 2014 against the Petitioners before the Court of the learned Judicial Magistrate First Class, Barbil. In the said complaint petition, it was alleged, inter alia, that the Regional Officer, State Pollution Control Board, Keonjhar, had reported that the concerned mine did not possess a valid Environmental Clearance or consent to operate for extraction of Manganese Ore up to 31.03.2011, and despite such absence of requisite statutory clearance, mining operations and production activities were continued during the years 2005-06, 2006-07, 2007-08 and 2009-10, allegedly exceeding the permissible consented limits, particularly during the year 2008-09. (iii) It was further alleged in the complaint petition that the production carried out beyond the permissible limit amounted to violation of the provisions of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986. It is stated that, in view of such alleged violations, the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, as well ....
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....ny Appeal (AT) No. 92/2019, which came to be dismissed by order dated 08.01.2019. Similarly, Civil Appeal No. 1484/2019 was filed before the Hon'ble Supreme Court against the order of the NCLAT, which came to be dismissed vide order dated 11.02.2019. (vii) That on 30.10.2019, M/s Sterlite Power Transmission Ltd. submitted a Resolution Plan for the Petitioner Company, to be implemented through one of its group companies. It is stated that, under the terms of the said Resolution Plan, the new management of the Petitioner Company was not to be held liable for any past non-compliance or violations of applicable laws allegedly committed by the erstwhile management, and all proceedings relating thereto were to stand permanently extinguished upon approval of the Resolution Plan. (viii) It is further stated that the learned National Company Law Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, vide order dated 30.01.2020, approved the Resolution Plan submitted by M/s Sterlite Power Transmission Limited. It is stated that the said order dated 30.01.2020 was thereafter assailed before the learned National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) Nos. 207-208 of 2020 and Co....
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.... satisfied in the present case. It is submitted that the Resolution Plan in respect of the Petitioner Company was duly approved by the learned National Company Law Tribunal, Cuttack Bench, vide judgment dated 30.01.2020 passed in C.P. (I.B.) No. 251/KB/2017, pursuant to which there occurred a complete and absolute change in the management and control of the Petitioner Company. It is further submitted that the present management is neither connected with nor related to any erstwhile promoter or person who was in management or control of the corporate debtor prior to commencement of the CIRP. According to the Petitioner, there is no material available on record to indicate, or even remotely suggest, that the present management had in any manner abetted, conspired, or participated in the commission of the alleged offences forming the subject matter of the present proceeding. (iii) It is further contended that Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was enacted with the specific legislative intent of providing a "clean slate" to the corporate debtor upon approval of a Resolution Plan and transfer of management to a new and unrelated entity. According to the Pet....
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.... broad, liberal and purposive interpretation so as to advance the legislative object underlying the provision. According to the Petitioner, the said expression is not required to be construed in a narrow or pedantic sense confined only to conventional criminal offences, but must also encompass statutory and regulatory infractions carrying penal consequences, including civil liabilities of a punitive character. It is contended that such an interpretation alone would give full effect to the legislative intent of granting a complete "fresh start" to the corporate debtor after approval of the Resolution Plan, free from the burden of past liabilities and proceedings attributable to the erstwhile management. (vii) It is further contended that the inordinate, unexplained, and oppressive delay of more than eleven years in the current criminal proceedings violates the Petitioner's fundamental right to a speedy trial under Article 21 of the Constitution of India. Cognizance was taken as far back as 29.04.2014, and despite the Petitioner appearing regularly through counsel since 04.07.2015, the trial has not progressed beyond issuing repeated summons due to the perpetual non-avai....
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....esh Chandra Das. The case record clearly establishes that the accused has been willfully absconding and actively avoiding the process of law. (ii) It was submitted that the provisions of Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, cannot act as a blanket shield to automatically stifle valid criminal prosecutions under environmental laws. The infractions under Section 15 of the Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, involve serious damage to the ecological balance and public health committed between 2002 and 2009, and the corporate entity cannot evade statutory liability merely by undergoing a subsequent financial restructuring. (iii) It is further contended that the amendments introduced by the Jan Vishwas (Amendment of Provisions) Act, 2023, which took effect on 01.04.2024, do not have automatic retrospective application to wipe out past criminal liabilities. Criminal proceedings where cognizance was lawfully taken as far back as 29.04.2014 must be governed by the penal provisions in force at the time of the commission of the offence and the taking of cognizance. (iv) It was respectfully submitted that the delay in the progress of the tri....
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....complete change in the management and control of the corporate debtor pursuant to approval of the Resolution Plan. Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 has been enacted with the avowed object of ensuring revival of the corporate debtor by granting it a fresh slate upon takeover by a new and unrelated management. The said provision unequivocally stipulates that where the management and control of the corporate debtor stand transferred to a person who is neither a promoter nor in any manner connected with the erstwhile management responsible for the commission of the offence, the liability of the corporate debtor in respect of offences committed prior to commencement of the CIRP shall cease, and the corporate debtor shall not be subjected to prosecution for such antecedent offences. Thus, upon fulfillment of the statutory requirements contemplated under Section 32A of the IBC, the continuation of criminal proceedings against the corporate debtor in relation to pre-CIRP offences becomes legally impermissible. 10. Section 32A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 has been introduced by the legislature with the clear and avowed object of affording a "clean sl....
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....ch leads it to entertain the reason to believe that he had abetted or conspired for the commission of the offence and has submitted or filed a report before the relevant authority or the Court. This last limb may require a little more demystification. The person, who comes to acquire the management and control of the corporate person, must not be a person who has abetted or conspired for the commission of the offence committed by the corporate debtor prior to the commencement of the CIRP. Therefore, abetting or conspiracy by the person, who acquires management and control of the corporate debtor, under a resolution plan, which is approved under Section 31 of the Code and the filing of the report, would remove the protective umbrella or immunity erected by Section 32-A in regard to an offence committed by the corporate debtor before the commencement of the CIRP. To make it even more clear, if either of the conditions, namely, abetting or conspiring followed by the report, which have been mentioned as aforesaid, are present, then, the liability of the corporate debtor, for an offence committed prior to the commencement of the CIRP, will remain unaffected. 326. We are of the ....
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....ncudes the liability of the corporate debtor for all offences committed prior to the commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process. Doubtless, a Section 138 proceeding would be included, and would, after the moratorium period comes to an end with a resolution plan by a new management being approved by the adjudicating authority, cease to be an offence qua the corporate debtor. 43. ... If, therefore, the expression "prosecution" in the first proviso of Section 32-A(1) refers to criminal proceedings properly so-called either through the medium of a first information report or complaint filed by an investigating authority or complaint and not to quasi-criminal proceedings that are instituted under Sections 138/141 of the Negotiable Instruments Act against the corporate debtor, the object of Section 14(1) IBC gets subserved, as does the object of Section 32-A, which does away with criminal prosecutions in all cases against the corporate debtor, thus absolving the corporate debtor from the same after a new management comes in." 13. In the present case, the allegations forming the subject matter of the impugned complaint under Section 15 of the Environment (Prot....
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....ur of the law. The principle is based both on sound reason and common sense. 24. In Rattan Lal v. State of Punjab [AIR 1965 SC 444: (1964) 7 SCR 676: (1965) 1 SCJ 779: (1965) 1 Cri LJ 360], the question that fell for consideration was whether an appellate court can extend the benefit of Probation of Offenders Act, 1958 which had come into force after the accused had been convicted of a criminal offence. The Court by majority of 2: 1 answered the question in the affirmative. Subba Rao, J. who delivered a majority opinion, concluded that in considering the question, the rule of beneficial construction required that even ex post facto law of the type involved in that case should be applied to reduce the punishment." 16. This Court is of the considered view that, subsequent to the approval of the Resolution Plan, the erstwhile Board of Directors of the Petitioner Company ceased to hold office and the management and affairs of the Company stood vested in a newly constituted Board of Directors under the control of the successful Resolution Applicant. The materials available on record unequivocally demonstrate that the Petitioner Company has undergone a successful Corporate In....