Limited judicial review of CoC-approved resolution plan confined to Section 30(2) IBC compliance; commercial wisdom paramount.

ORDER

1. The instant Application bearing IA (I.B.C) No. 1232 of 2023 is being filed on behalf of Mr. Gurdev Bassi (hereinafter referred to as “Applicant’), the Resolution Professional for M/S Valueworth Capital Management Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Corporate Debtor”) filed under Section 30(6) and Section 31 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as “Code”) for seeking approval of the Resolution Plan submitted by Successful Resolution Applicant (hereinafter referred to as “SRA”) Ms. Ritika Bhandari approved in the 4th CoC meeting.

2. The Corporate Debtor namely Valueworth Capital Management Private Limited was admitted into Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (hereinafter referred to as “CIRP”) by this Adjudicating Authority vide order dated 22.11.2022 passed in CP (IB) No. 264/Chd/Pb/2020, whereby moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was declared and Mr. Gurdev Bassi was appointed as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) of the Corporate Debtor. The CIRP commencement date was fixed as

22.11.2022.

3. Pursuant to his appointment, the Interim Resolution Professional made a public announcement in Form-A on 24.11.2022 in accordance with Sections 13 and 15 of the Code read with Regulation 6 of the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016, in two newspapers namely Financial Express (English Edition) and Amar Ujala (Hindi Edition), calling upon the creditors of the Corporate Debtor to submit their claims on or before 06.12.2022.

4. In response to the public announcement, claims were received from the creditors of the Corporate Debtor. The Interim Resolution Professional, in terms of Regulations 13 and 14 of the CIRP Regulations, verified and collated the claims and prepared the list of creditors.

5. After collation of claims and determination of the financial position of the Corporate Debtor, the Interim Resolution Professional constituted the Committee of Creditors (CoC) on 14.12.2022 under Section 21 of the Code. The CoC consisted of only one Operational Creditor, namely Rajeev Sood & Co., holding 100% voting share.

6. The 1st meeting of the Committee of Creditors was held on 20.12.2022, wherein the CoC confirmed the appointment of the Interim Resolution Professional as the Resolution Professional. Subsequently, this Adjudicating Authority vide order dated 10.01.2023 appointed Mr. Gurdev Bassi as the Resolution Professional of the Corporate Debtor.

7. The 2nd meeting of the Committee of Creditors was held on 10.01.2023, wherein decisions were taken with respect to appointment of registered valuers, finalisation of eligibility criteria, evaluation matrix, performance security and issuance of Form-G for inviting Expression of Interest from prospective Resolution Applicants.

8. Pursuant thereto, Form-G was published on 18.01.2023 under Regulation 36A of the CIRP Regulations inviting Expressions of Interest from prospective Resolution Applicants. In response to the said Form-G, nine (9) EOIs were received by the Resolution Professional.

9. The Resolution Professional scrutinised the EOIs and eligibility documents submitted under Section 29A of the Code. After such scrutiny, only one Prospective Resolution Applicant, namely Ms. Ritika Bhandari, was found eligible and was included in the final list of Prospective Resolution Applicants, which was duly placed before the Committee of Creditors.

10. The Resolution Professional issued the Request for Resolution Plan (R