The English Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal that a claim could be pursued in the English courts whilst the defendant was also subject to winding-up proceedings under Icelandic insolvency law.

This case concerns a Court of Appeal hearing following the collapse of the large Icelandic bank, Kaupthing Bank HF ("Kaupthing"), in 2008. Kaupthing was subject to a moratorium order made by the Icelandic courts in 2008 and a winding-up order in November 2010.

The Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council during its 39^th meeting, held on 14 March 2020, decided that a special procedure should be prescribed for corporate debtors undergoing the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) under the provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), in order to enable such entities to comply with the provisions of the GST laws.

The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (hereinafter referred to as ‘IBBI’) vide its notification dated March 29, 2020^[1] has issued clarification regarding the period of exclusion for Insolvency Resolution Process. Through, the issuance of the above mentioned notification, the IBBI has amended the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 to include the following:

On 17^th January, 2020, the Republic of India (India) made a remarkable move with the issuance of a Gazette notification which notified the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) as a “reciprocating territory” for the enforcement of judgments (Reciprocating Territory Notification). This alert expands on the features of this new development and the potential benefit for individuals, companies (including financial institutions) in the UAE that have default debtors located in India or with assets in India.

Below are the key highlights of the newsletter:

• Supreme Court: No provision under the IBC requiring the resolution plan to match liquidation value; and an approved resolution plan cannot be withdrawn under Section 12A of the IBC
• NCLAT: No default by real estate developer if possession delayed due to reasons beyond control
• Supreme Court: Provident Fund benefits payable to contractual employees from date of filing writ petition and not retrospectively
• NCLT: Automatic waiver of legal proceedings is not permitted in a resolution plan

There are hundreds of cases that have been filed and closed under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016(“IBC”) or are being battled out. There are many lessons that can be learnt from the obvious mistakes committed by some of the best lawyers, courts, and creditors. This article analyses such a case that has omitted the grey area of having matters filed against the same corporate debtor both as per the Companies Act, 1956(“1956 Act”) and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code,2016.

FACTS

The World Health Organisation (WHO) declared COVID-19 as a “pandemic” on March 11, 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic is having an overwhelming impact on global order. These are testing times for nations. For India and for most other countries, the outbreak presents twin challenges, not only containing the virus spread, but also limiting the economic impact in an already slowing economy.

Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 brought in a substantial financial discipline among Indian Companies. Prior to the said Code, taking advantage of delay in litigations due to high pendency of cases in the courts, companies were always dragging the payments. The above said Code mandated that if a company is not able to make the payment within 10 days from the date of receipt of a demand notice from the creditor, it is treated as default. Hence, the creditor can approach National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking to initiate insolvency proceedings against the defaulter.

Impact of COVID 19 Outbreak on Courts

In terms of the number of registered Covid-19 data across the world, India lies at the bottom of the list. However, in the last few weeks, India has witnessed a rapid increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases. As a result, there lies a possibility that India might witness a severe outbreak of this pandemic disease within a short period of time if its spread is left unchecked.