The Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) observed that no claim is to be admitted after the approval of the Resolution Plan by the Committee of Creditors (CoC).
The applicants in the present Interlocutory Applicant have prayed for directions to the Respondent to condone the delay in filing their claim and to consider and admit the claim of the applicant. The claim of the applicant is Rs. 98,83,932/-, out of which the principal claim is of Rs. 40,00,000/- and the interest thereon is Rs. 58,83,932/-.
The applicants stated that they have faced huge financial crises due to which they were prevented from filing their claim before the Respondent. Moreover, they were not aware of the present proceedings being filed against the Corporate Debtor. There were deaths of the relatives of the applicants. The applicant No.01 was jobless for over a year and later took-up a job in August, 2021 at 60% lower salary than his last drawn CTC.
The counsel for the respondent submitted that the admission of the appellant’s claim at this belated stage would upset the entire CIRP process as admission of their claim at this belated stage would jeopardise the approved resolution plan and would in-turn defeat the interests of all other homebuyers who dutifully and diligently submitted their claims. Hence, the Respondent prayed that the instant application be dismissed with exemplary costs on the applicants.
The Counsel for the applicant asserted that even if the applicant’s claim was not filed within time, his claim should have been considered and included in the Information Memorandum prepared by the RP, more so when the lis against the Corporate Debtor was pending before the Hon’ble District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum.
A Two-Member Bench comprising Anil Raj Chellan, Technical Member and Kuldip Kumar Kareer, Judicial Member observed that “We are of the considered view that the claim of the Applicant cannot be entertained at such a belated stage where the resolution plan has been unanimously approved by the Committee of Creditors and the same is pending for the approval of the Adjudicating Authority. At this stage, we cannot allow to unleash the hydra-headed monster of undecided claim(s) on the successful resolution applicant. Even otherwise, the Applicant has no good case on merits. Hence, the present application is liable to be dismissed.”
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