Insights of filing Petition / Application with NCLT

This article deals with the minute details of the documents required and the procedure to be followed for filing a Petition / Application with the National Company Law Tribunal ("Tribunal") under section 7 and 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 ("IBC").

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR FILING PETITION / APPLICATION

I. Section 7 of IBC: Application by Financial Creditor Following are the checklist of documents required to be attached for filing Application under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016:

1. Form 1 the Application by the Financial Creditor to initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process against Corporate Debtor as per rule 4(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016;
2. Vakaltnama (along with Board Resolution / Power of Attorney) 
3. Synopsis not exceeding more than 3 pages; 
4. List of dates and events not exceeding more than 3 pages; 
5. Index; 
6. Affidavit in support executed by the authorized signatory on Rs.100 stamp paper; 
7. Extract of the master data of the Corporate Debtor procured from MCA website 
8. Proposed Resolution Professional documents.

II. Section 8 of IBC: Application by Operational Creditor Following are the checklist of documents required to be attached for filing Application under Section 8 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016:

1. Form 5 the Application by the Operational Creditor to initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process against Corporate Debtor as per rule 6(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016; 
2. Demand Notice issued by the Operational Creditor under Section 8 of the IBC i.e. Form 3 or Form 4;
3. Reply to the Demand Notice, if any; 
4. Certificate from the Bank (though not mandatory now);
5. Vakaltnama (along with Board Resolution / Power of Attorney) 
6. Synopsis not exceeding more than 3 pages; 
7. List of dates and events not exceeding more than 3 pages;
8. Index;
9. Affidavit in support to be executed by the authorized signatory on Rs.100 stamp paper; 
10. Affidavit stating that there is no existence of dispute on record to be executed by the authorized signatory on Rs.100 stamp paper;
11. Extract of the master data of the Corporate Debtor procured from MCA website 
12. Proposed Resolution Professional documents. 

Documents required from proposed Resolution Professional

1. Form 2 the Written Communication from the proposed Resolution Professional as per rule 9(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016,

2. Affidavit in support (on Rs.100/- stamp paper) of the Written Communication by the proposed resolution Professional

3. Certificate of Resolution Professional issued by the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India. The formatting of the Application is to be done as per Rule 20 of the NCLT Rules:

20. Procedure.-(1) Every appeal or petition or application or caveat petition or objection or counter presented to the Tribunal shall be in English and in case it is in some other Indian language, it shall be accompanied by a copy translated in English and shall be fairly and legibly type written, lithographed or printed in double spacing on one side of standard petition paper with an inner margin of about four centimeter width on top and with a right margin of 2.5. cm, and left margin of 5 cm, duly paginated, indexed and stitched together in paper book form;

Once the Petition / Application along with documents are ready the same has to be printed on green legal paper one sided and the following steps are to be taken:

a. The Petition has to be duly signed by the authorized representative along with the company stamp;

b. All the pages of the Petition / Application (including exhibits) should be initialed by the authorized signatory along with the Company stamp;

c. Subsequently the complete Petition / Application (including exhibits) have to be notarized.

Subsequently a copy of the Petition / Application is to be served upon the Corporate Debtor as proof of service of the Petition to the Corporate Debtor forms the part of the Petition / Application to be filed with the Tribunal. The service of the Application / Petition can be done upon the Corporate Debtor either in person or by way of registered post.

FILING OF THE PETITION / APPLICATION WITH NCLT Following is the final checklist for the filing of the Application / Petition with NCLT:

1. Three sets (one original to be printed on green and two copies can be either be printed on green or white) of Application / Petition are required for filing of the Application / Petition with NCLT (all three stitched) along with Compact Disk (CD). [In NCLT Mumbai two copies are to be submitted with the NCLT and the third copy is to be tendered to NCLT across the bench on the first date of the hearing and Letter of filing is to be stitched with the original set of the Application /Petition];

2. The requisite fees is to be paid by means of a bank draft drawn in favour of the Pay and Accounts Officer, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, New Delhi/Kolkata/Chennai /Mumbai, as the case may be as per Rule 112(3) as per NCLT Rules;

3. If the Petition / Application are exceeding more than 200 pages then the same has to be divided in different volumes. (Note one volume should not contain more than 200 pages).

AFTER FILING OF THE PETITION / APPLICATION WITH NCLT

Once the Petition is filled the diary number is allotted by the Registry, NCLT. Subsequently, the Petition is numbered. Follow up with the registry to keep a track on the listing up of the matter. Once the date of hearing is assigned, the Operational Creditor and Financial Creditor should serve a notice of hearing on the Corporate Debtor. Thereafter which an Affidavit proving Service is required to be filed with the Registry indicating that a Corporate Debtor was informed about the listing of the matter.

Kindly Note: The procedure followed by the NCLT can be modified from time to time. Prepared by Rashi Agarwal (Advocate Bombay High Court)