The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), Chennai Bench ruled that the Resolution Professional (RP) is not empowered to undertake Revision of GST assessment.
The appelllant, Bijoy Prabhakaran Pulipra is a Resolution Professional who has assailed the NCLT’s order under Section 60(5) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) holding that there is no error in the Order. The Appellant has sought the clarification about assessment of the GST amount payable by the Corporate Debtor.
The coram of Judicial Member Justice Venugopal M and Technical Member [V. P. Singh held that the Resolution Professional committed an error in exercising their power and exercised the powers of GST Authorities, by way of Regulation 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 (CIRP Regulations), which was not held to be sustainable.
The Tribunal observed that the Appellant revised the admitted claim of GST dues filed by The State Tax Officer, SGSTafter verification of the GST claims with Corporate Debtor’s books. On account of this, the NCLAT remarked that the revision of the GST assessment order was beyond the jurisdiction of the RP and the RP was not having the adjudicatory power given by the GST Law
The NCLAT further stated that any revision of assessment orders also cannot be made under the pretext of Section 238 of IBC. Section 238 of IBC cannot be read as conferring any appellate or adjudicatory jurisdiction in respect of issues arising under other statutes.
The NCLAT stated that the Committee of Creditors (COC) cannot exercise judicial power under commercial wisdom and has no role in acceptance/rejection of the claim, the NCLAT concluded that the NCLT had rightly considered the statutory provision and suggested filing an Appeal before NCLAT. Furthermore, the said act of the RP is without jurisdiction and not sustainable in law.\
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