Copy Of Other Prospective Resolution Applicants' Plans Cannot Be Shared When Suspended Management Is Also A Resolution Applicant: NCLAT

The NCLAT New Delhi bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Mr. Barun Mitra has held that copy of the Resolution Plans submitted by other Prospective Resolution Applicants cannot be shared in advance with the suspended management of the corporate debtor when the suspended management is also a Resolution Applicant. It was further submitted that the CoC had approved the resolution plan without the resolution plan in its final form being available before it and hence impermissible as held by the Hon'ble Supreme Court in the M.K Rajagopalan Vs Dr. Perisamy Palani Gounder The appellant submitted that the SRA's resolution plan was in the form of an unsigned document and was screen shared which hindered meaningful deliberations about its feasibility. It further added that “this is a case where the revised resolution plan of the SRA was duly considered, evaluated and approved by the CoC before the RP placed the same for the approval of the Adjudicating Authority and hence the ratio of the judgement of the Hon'ble Supreme Court in M.K Rajagopalan supra is clearly not applicable in the present factual matrix.” It also added that the resolution plans received from PRAs other than the anchor bidder were opened up during the first session of the 54th meeting and was displayed through shared screen during the said meeting. The tribunal also noted that in the present case, when it is an admitted fact that the Appellant was also a competing Resolution Applicant, no copy of the resolution plan of other PRAs could have been shared in advance with the Appellant as it would have triggered conflict of interest therefore the law laid down by the Supreme Court in Vijay Kumar Jain is not applicable in this case.