The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has extended the deadline for completion of the insolvency resolution of Reliance Capital by 90 days till July 16.
“Considering the submissions advanced by the applicant, this bench is satisfied that this is a fit case for exercising discretion vested with this Tribunal as an exceptional one. Accordingly, a period of 90 days is excluded from the timeline for completion of CIRP. In view of the above, the CIRP of the corporate debtor will now come to an end on 16.07.2023,” NCLT said as per the order accessed by businessline.
The resolution process was initially scheduled to be completed by June 4, 2022. Following five extensions of 30-90 days, the latest deadline was set at April 17, 2023.
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businessline, had on April 11, reported that Reliance Capital has sought a 90-day extension in the resolution deadline, till the middle of July, due to delays in the second auction and ongoing judicial cases.
The administrator of Reliance Capital had written to NCLT seeking exclusion of a 90-day period from the insolvency timeline, citing the time spent in “approaching and obtaining clarification/ vacation orders in relation to several interim orders passed by various judicial forums”. He also invoked the Supreme Court order in the Essar Steel resolution process, where the apex court had said IBC timelines are directory and not mandatory.
The administrator also attributed the delays to the dispute pending before the NCLT, pertaining to the custody and possession of shares of Reliance General Insurance, resolution of certain contentious assets of the corporate debtor, and the time needed to negotiate, finalise and approve the resolution plans received from the prospective resolution applicants.
NCLT allows for exclusion of certain periods of time from counting the total insolvency resolution period of 270 days in specific circumstances. The committee of creditors (CoC) had approved the 90-day extension at its 39th meeting on April 5, 2023.