Section-29A - Whether Promoters of CD are Ineligible to submit Resolution Plan on the face of Section 240A.
Provisions of the Code;
# 29A. Persons not eligible to be resolution applicant. - A person shall not be eligible to submit a resolution plan, if such person, or any other person acting jointly or in concert with such person -
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(c) at the time of submission of the resolution plan has an account, or an account of a corporate debtor under the management or control of such person or of whom such person is a promoter, classified as non-performing asset in accordance with the guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India issued under the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 (10 of 1949) or the guidelines of a financial sector regulator issued under any other law for the time being in force, and at least a period of one year has lapsed from the date of such classification till the date of commencement of the corporate insolvency resolution process of the corporate debtor:
Provided that the person shall be eligible to submit a resolution plan if such person makes payment of all overdue amounts with interest thereon and charges relating to nonperforming
asset accounts before submission of resolution plan:
Provided further that nothing in this clause shall apply to a resolution applicant where such applicant is a financial entity and is not a related party to the corporate debtor.
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(e) is disqualified to act as a director under the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013):
Provided that this clause shall not apply in relation to a connected person referred to in clause (iii) of Explanation I;
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(h) has executed a guarantee in favour of a creditor in respect of a corporate debtor against which an application for insolvency resolution made by such creditor has been admitted under this Code 2[and such guarantee has been invoked by the creditor and remains unpaid in full or part;
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(j) has a connected person not eligible under clauses (a) to (i).
Explanation [I].For the purposes of this clause, the expression "connected person" means—
(i) any person who is the promoter or in the management or control of the resolution applicant; or
(ii) any person who shall be the promoter or in management or control of the business of the corporate debtor during the implementation of the resolution plan; or
(iii) the holding company, subsidiary company, associate company or related party of a person referred to in clauses (i) and (ii):
Provided that nothing in clause (iii) of Explanation I shall apply to a resolution applicant where such applicant is a financial entity and is not a related party of the corporate debtor:
Provided further that the expression "related party" shall not include a financial entity, regulated by a financial sector regulator, if it is a financial creditor of the corporate debtor and
is a related party of the corporate debtor solely on account of conversion or substitution of debt into equity shares or instruments convertible into equity shares 6[or completion of such
transactions as may be prescribed], prior to the insolvency commencement date;
# 5 (24) “related party”, in relation to a corporate debtor, means-
(a) a director or partner of the corporate debtor or a relative of a director or partner of the corporate debtor;
(b) a key managerial personnel of the corporate debtor or a relative of a key managerial personnel of the corporate debtor;
(c) a limited liability partnership or a partnership firm in which a director, partner, or manager of the corporate debtor or his relative is a partner;
(d) a private company in which a director, partner or manager of the corporate debtor is a director and holds along with his relatives, more than two per cent. of its share capital;
(e) a public company in which a director, partner or manager of the corporate debtor is a director and holds along with relatives, more than two per cent. of its paid- up share capital;
(f) anybody corporate whose board of directors, managing director or manager, in the ordinary course of business, acts on the advice, directions or instructions of a director, partner or manager of the corporate debtor;
(g) any limited liability partnership or a partnership firm whose partners or employees in the ordinary course of business, acts on the advice, directions or instructions of a director, partner or manager of the corporate debtor;
(h) any person on whose advice, directions or instructions, a director, partner or manager of the corporate debtor is accustomed to act;
(i) a body corporate which is a holding, subsidiary or an associate company of the corporate debtor, or a subsidiary of a holding company to which the corporate debtor is a subsidiary;
(j) any person who controls more than twenty per cent. of voting rights in the corporate debtor on account of ownership or a voting agreement;
(k) any person in whom the corporate debtor controls more than twenty per cent. of voting rights on account of ownership or a voting agreement;
(l) any person who can control the composition of the board of directors or corresponding governing body of the corporate debtor;
(m) any person who is associated with the corporate debtor on account of-
(i) participation in policy making processes of the corporate debtor; or
(ii) having more than two directors in common between the corporate debtor and such person; or
(iii) interchange of managerial personnel between the corporate debtor and such person; or
(iv) provision of essential technical information to, or from, the corporate debtor;
# 240A. Application of this Code to micro, small and medium enterprises. –
(1) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this Code, the provisions of clauses (c) and (h) of section 29A shall not apply to the resolution applicant in respect of corporate insolvency resolution process of any micro, small and medium enterprises.
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Case Law;
Related Party - Connected Party.
1. Supreme Court (2023.09.06) In Eva Agro Feeds Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Punjab National Bank and Anr. [Civil Appeal No.7906 of 2021, 2023INSC809] held that;
47.1. After a careful analysis, this Court opined that the expressions ‘related party’ and ‘relative’ contained in the definition sections must be read noscitur a sociis with the categories of person mentioned in Explanation I. So read, it would include only persons who are connected with the business activity of the resolution applicant. This Court further clarified that the expression ‘connected person’ would also cover a person who is in management or control of the business of the corporate debtor during the implementation of a resolution plan.
48.1. . . . . . . It was clarified that the opening words of Section 29(A) stating “a person shall not be eligible to submit a resolution plan…..” clearly indicates that the stage of ineligibility attaches when the resolution plan is submitted by the resolution applicant; thus the disqualification applies in praesenti. . . . .
# 50. From the above, it is clearly manifest that the disqualification sought to be attached to the appellant is without any substance as the related party had ceased to be in the helm of affairs of the corporate debtor more than a decade ago. He was not in charge of the company or an influential member of the company i.e., the corporate debtor when the appellant had made its bid pursuant to the auction sale notice.
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2. Supreme Court (2019.01.25) in Swiss Ribbons Private Limited & Anr. Vs Union of India and Ors. [Writ Petition (CIVIL) No. 99 of 2018] held that;
# 75. We are of the view that persons who act jointly or in concert with others are connected with the business activity of the resolution applicant. Similarly, all the categories of persons mentioned in Section 5(24-A) show that such persons must be “connected” with the resolution applicant within the meaning of Section 29-A(j). This being the case, the said categories of persons who are collectively mentioned under the caption “relative” obviously need to have a connection with the business activity of the resolution applicant. In the absence of showing that such person is “connected” with the business of the activity of the resolution applicant, such person cannot possibly be disqualified under Section 29-A(j). All the categories in Section 29-A(j) deal with persons, natural as well as artificial, who are connected with the business activity of the resolution applicant. The expression “related party”, therefore, and “relative” contained in the definition sections must be read noscitur a sociis with the categories of persons mentioned in Explanation I, and so read, would include only persons who are connected with the business activity of the resolution applicant.
# 76. An argument was also made that the expression “connected person” in Explanation I, clause (ii) to Section 29-A(j) cannot possibly refer to a person who may be in management or control of the business of the corporate debtor in future. This would be arbitrary as the explanation would then apply to an indeterminate person. This contention also needs to be repelled as Explanation I seeks to make it clear that if a person is otherwise covered as a “connected person”, this provision would also cover a person who is in management or control of the business of the corporate debtor during the implementation of a resolution plan. Therefore, any such person is not indeterminate at all, but is a person who is in the saddle of the business of the corporate debtor either at an anterior point of time or even during implementation of the resolution plan. This disposes of all the contentions raising questions as to the constitutional validity of Section 29- A(j).
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What is noscitur a sociis in law?
Latin for 'it is known by its associates', noscitur a sociis is a rule of interpretation of contracts, statutes and estate documents stipulating that the meaning of an unclear word can be gathered from the context in which it is used.
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Purposive Interpretation of Section 29A
3. NCLAT New Delhi (2023.02.06) In Kanti Mohan Rustagi Vs. Redbrick Consulting Pvt. Ltd. [Company Appeal (AT) (Ins.) No. 1176 & 1177 of 2022] held that;
# 23. It is thus, seen that in the judgment in Bank of Baroda v. MBL Infrastructures Ltd. (supra), the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that a ‘purposive interpretation’ of section 29-A is required when the primary aim is to restart the corporate debtor, which is also the case in the present appeal since the corporate debtor is being sold as a ‘going concern’. This judgment, in addition, also clarifies that the management which has ran the company aground, because of which the company has gone into insolvency resolution/liquidation, cannot be allowed to return in a new avatar as a resolution applicant. This judgment also lays down that the erstwhile promoter of a corporate debtor has no vested right to bid for the property of the corporate debtor in liquidation. Such a purposive interpretation of section 29-A also permeates the provisions of section 35 (1)(f) of the IBC and, therefore, a similar prohibition is applicable to a successful auction purchaser so that backdoor entry of erstwhile management is not permissible.
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4. Supreme Court (2022.01.18)) in Bank of Baroda & Anr. Vs. MBL Infrastructures Ltd. & Ors. [Civil Appeal No. 8411 of 2019] held that;
A purposive interpretation
# 53. This line of decisions, beginning with Chitra Sharma [Chitra Sharma v. Union of India, (2018) 18 SCC 575] and continuing to ArcelorMittal [ArcelorMittal (India) (P) Ltd. v. Satish Kumar Gupta, (2019) 2 SCC 1] and Swiss Ribbons [Swiss Ribbons (P) Ltd. v. Union of India, (2019) 4 SCC 17] is significant in adopting a purposive interpretation of Section 29-A. Section 29-A has been construed to be a crucial link in ensuring that the objects of the IBC are not defeated by allowing “ineligible persons”, including but not confined to those in the management who have run the company aground, to return in the new avatar of resolution applicants. Section 35(1)(f) is placed in the same continuum when the Court observes that the erstwhile promoters of a corporate debtor have no vested right to bid for the property of the corporate debtor in liquidation. The values which animate Section 29-A continue to provide sustenance to the rationale underlying the exclusion of the same category of persons from the process of liquidation involving the sale of assets, by virtue of the provisions of Section 35(1)(f). More recent precedents of this Court continue to adopt a purposive interpretation of the provisions of the IBC. [See in this context the judgments in Phoenix ARC (P) Ltd. v. Spade Financial Services Ltd. [Phoenix ARC (P) Ltd. v. Spade Financial Services Ltd., (2021) 3 SCC 475 : (2021) 2 SCC (Civ) 1 at paras 103-104] , Ramesh Kymal v. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power (P) Ltd. [Ramesh Kymal v. Siemens Gamesa Renewable Power (P) Ltd., (2021) 3 SCC 224 : (2021) 2 SCC (Civ) 65 at paras 23 and 25] and Jaypee Infratech Ltd. v. Axis Bank Ltd. [Jaypee Infratech Ltd. v. Axis Bank Ltd., (2020) 8 SCC 401 : (2021) 2 SCC (Civ) 334 at paras 28.4 and 28.5] ]
Sustainable revival
# 54. The purpose of the ineligibility under Section 29-A is to achieve a sustainable revival and to ensure that a person who is the cause of the problem either by a design or a default cannot be a part of the process of solution. Section 29-A, it must be noted, encompasses not only conduct in relation to the corporate debtor but in relation to other companies as well. This is evident from clause (c) (“an account of a corporate debtor under the management or control of such person or of whom such person is a promoter, classified as a non-performing asset”), and clauses (e), (f), (g), (h) and (i) which have widened the net beyond the conduct in relation to the corporate debtor.”
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5. Supreme Court of India (04.10.2018) in ArcelorMittal India Private Limited Vs. Satish Kumar Gupta and Ors.(Civil Appeal Nos. 9402 – 9405 of 2018) held that;
# 56. Since Section 29A(c) is a see-through provision, great care must be taken to ensure that persons who are in charge of the corporate debtor for whom such resolution plan is made, do not come back in some other form to regain control of the company without first paying off its debts. The Code has bifurcated such persons into two groups, as a perusal of sub-clauses (c) and (g) of Section 29A shows. If a person has been a promoter, or in the management, or control, of a corporate debtor in which a preferential transaction, undervalued transaction, extortionate credit transaction or fraudulent transaction has taken place, and in respect of which an order has been made by the Adjudicating Authority under the Code, such person is ineligible to present a resolution plan under Section 29A(g). This ineligibility cannot be cured by paying off the debts of the corporate debtor. Therefore, it is only such persons who do not fall foul of sub-clause (g), who are eligible to submit resolution plans under sub-clause (c) of Section 29A, if they happen to be persons who were in the erstwhile management or control of the corporate debtor.
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Conclusion; Technically Promoters of the CD (MSME Unit) can submit resolution plan or bid during liquidation process, if not disqualified under sub-section (a), (b), (d), (e), (f), (g), (i), (j) of section 29A. (Ineligibility under sub-section (c) & (h) of section 29 A is not attracted in the case of CD, which is a MSME - unit. However Apex court had repeatedly under purposive interpretation of section 29A held that erstwhile promoters of a corporate debtor have no vested right either to submit a resolution plan in CIRP or to bid for the property of the corporate debtor in liquidation.;
…………Section 29-A has been construed to be a crucial link in ensuring that the objects of the IBC are not defeated by allowing “ineligible persons”, including but not confined to those in the management who have run the company aground, to return in the new avatar of resolution applicants. Section 35(1)(f) is placed in the same continuum when the Court observes that the erstwhile promoters of a corporate debtor have no vested right to bid for the property of the corporate debtor in liquidation. The values which animate Section 29-A continue to provide sustenance to the rationale underlying the exclusion of the same category of persons from the process of liquidation involving the sale of assets, by virtue of the provisions of Section 35(1)(f)...............
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