vaibhav aggarwal (advocate) 14 September 2020
Adv Vinay Mathur + 8447131770 (Advocate) 16 September 2020
P. Venu (Advocate) 23 September 2020
What are the facts? What is the context?
Sudiksha Gupta 23 September 2020
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) governs at present only companies (and Limited Liability Partnerships. This code also contains provisions in respect of individual insolvency, but these provisions have not been notified they have consequently not come into force yet. Therefore cases relating to unpaid debts against individuals and partnership firms would fall outside the purview of this code. The Ministry also qualified via Press Information Bureau, Government of India, Ministry of Finance, 29-August-2017 11:38 IST, (Release ID: 1501118) that Section 243 of the Code which provides for repeal of said enactments has not been notified till date and further, provisions related to insolvency resolution and bankruptcy for individuals and partnerships as contained in Part III of the Code are yet to be notified. Hence, it is advised that stakeholders who intend to pursue their insolvency cases may approach appropriate authority/court under the existing enactments, instead of approaching the Debt Recovery Tribunals. This was also reiterated in State Bank of India v. Ramakrishnan and Ors., by Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in Civil Appeal No. 3595 and 4553 of 2018 on 14.08.2018
Thus, for individuals, the Presidency Towns Insolvency Act, 1909 and Provincial Insolvency Act, 1920 provide for the legal framework in relation to insolvency process for individuals. They allow an application to be filed either by the creditor or the debtor, to initiate insolvency proceeding, if the debtor is unable to pay his, debts amounting to five hundred rupees. In case of a petition by a creditor, he had to show that the insolvent had committed an act of insolvency which included the debtor alienating his property to a third person, taking action to defeat or delays his creditors filing a petition for insolvency, failing to respond to a creditor's notice of insolvency, etc. within three months before the presentation of the petition.