The Disciplinary Committee of Insolvency And Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) has upheld an order against a Professional Member of the Indian Institute of Insolvency Professional of ICAI (IPA) on the grounds of professional misconduct.
Mr. U. Balakrishna Bhatallegedly accepted the role as a Resolution Professional (RP) in the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of Torus India Limited without holding a valid Authorisation for Assignment (AFA) issued to him by his IPA which was in violation of Regulation 7A of the IP Regulations that came into effect on 31st December 2019.
Mr. Bhat contended that he accepted to act as the IRP in the said assignment on 5th June, 2018 and therefore he was under bonafide belief that provision of Regulation 7A of the said IP Regulations 2016 was not applicable at the time when consent was given. He has further stated that he did not have any malafide intention for not obtaining the AFA and that the lapse was unintentional and he earnestly apologized for the same and that he had applied for an AFA from his IPA and the same is pending with them.
The same were the allegations and contentions by Mr. Girish Siriram Juneja where he was proposed as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) in March, 2019 by the Oriental Bank of Commerce and the acceptance for the same was given by him on 12th April, 2019.
Dr. Mukulita Vijayawargiya while passing the same orders for the Disciplinary committee to both the professionals noted “. . . the provisions of the Code and regulations are spelt out in a plain and unambiguous language. Regulation 7A of IP regulations requires for any IP to have AFA before undertaking any assignment . . . 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.”
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