The NCLT lacks jurisdiction to convict for perjury or impose fines under the IBC, which must be handled by a designated Special Court.

JUDGEMENT

JUSTICE YOGESH KHANNA, MEMBER (JUDICIAL)

These appeals are filed against impugned orders dated 17.5.2021 and 4.8.2021 passed by the Ld. Adjudicating Authority, National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi in IA No.1248/2020 and IA No.3341/2021. The appellant is aggrieved of the fact that per impugned order, the appellants have been held guilty of perjury and have been imposed a fine of Rs.2 lakh on each of the appellant. The Ld. NCLT had also directed the RP to initiate proceedings for perjury against Mr Ajay Vij per para 10 of the impugned order.

The impugned order is as under:-

9. After hearing the parties and perusing the documents, the conversion of the corporate debtor from a company to LLP is analyzed via a vis the provisions of the Companies Act and Limited Liability Partnership Act, 20008. We find that company has intentionally taken steps to convert the entity of the corporate debtor from the private limited company to LLP.to escape the rigors of insolvency code and to shrug off the liabilities of the creditors of the corporate debtor. As also it is evident that neither at the time of passing of the order nor during CIRP. the LLP partner have come forward for compliance of Section 56 and shown any willingness to accept the liability of the corporate debtor and pay its creditors. Considering that LLP partners were also appearing before the bench and had actively participated while handing over the possession of the units to the lessor which were taken on lease by the corporate debtor The Registrar of Companies in its reply has given the details of the directors of the corporate debtor prior to conversion into LLP as well as the list of designated partners of the LLP. We find Mr. Naveen Gambhir as a common name in both the entities. The chronology of the incidents reveal that the management of the corporate debtor has played a fraud on this bench and is guilty of perjury. Mr. Pankaj Gambhir has acted in the entire design as an active participant It is seen from the records that two insolvency applications were filed against the corporate debtor in mid, 2018 and reply in both the application were filed by Mr. Ajay Vij in October 2018, who is reflected as the director of the private limited company. The document submitted for conversion of LLP, as produced before us, shows the date of submission of Form No.18 to Registrar of Companies as 03.11.2019, which was filed by Mr. Ajay Vij. The said Form No. 18 comprising of clause 15 which reads as under: whether any proceeding by or against the company is pending in any court or any other authority The answer to this statement was replied in negative by Mr. Ajay Vij on behalf of the corporate debtor. This clearly proves the act of perjury by Mr. Ajay Vij in connivance with all the directors of the corporate debtor. It cannot be believed that other directors which includes Mr. Naveen Gambhir and Mr. Ajay Vij were unaware about the insolvency proceeding against the corporate debtor or were ignorant about the information filed in Form No 18 specifically in clause 15. Moreover, it is found that in the present application Mr.Pankaj Gambhir filed an affidavit being the designated partner of LLP declaring that the units under the possession of corporate debtor which were lease hold units were handed over to the parties as back as in December 2016 and Mr. Pankaj Gambhir was unaware about the proceedings of insolvency pending against the corporate debtor. Whereas the Id. counsel appearing for the LLP before the bench on 18.09.2019 admitted that the lease hold units will be handed over to the parties. which were till then, in possession of the corporate debtor/ alleged LLP and further undertook to hand over the same as recorded in the said order. The order further records the statement of the corresponding unit holder of handing over of the possession of respective units. Mr.Naveem Gambhir is the common person being the director in the company and designated partner in alleged LLP has n