Belated Claims Of Homebuyers Can't Be Rejected If Their Units Are Reflected In Corporate Debtor's Records: NCLAT

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) New Delhi bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan (Judicial Member) and Mr. Arun Baroka (Technical Member) has held that claims filed by homebuyers cannot be rejected merely for being filed beyond the stipulated time period, if the homebuyer's unit is reflected in the list of homebuyers who had not filed their claims on time. The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) started against the corporate debtor on 11.08.2023. The Appellant failed to submit the claims within the stipulated time period. However, the unit of the Appellant duly was reflected in the list of homebuyers who had not submitted their claims. The Appellant filed an Interlocutory Application (IA) against the rejection of its claim filed belatedly which came to be rejected by the Adjudicating Authority. Against the above dismissal, the present appeal has been filed. The Tribunal noted that the NCLAT in Puneet Kaur v. K.V. Developers Pvt. Ltd. held that rejection of the belated claims filed by the Homebuyers was justified if their claims were not reflected in the Information Memorandum. It further held that the claims of the Homebuyers should be accepted if they were reflected in the Corporate Debtor's accounts but did not find mention in the Information Memorandum. The rejection of such claims leads to an unfair and inequitable resolution. Similarly, the Tribunal in Rahul Jain v. Nilesh Sharma held that since the Appellant's claims were reflected in the information memorandum, they should have been considered even if they were filed belatedly. While relying on the Puneet Kaur, the Tribunal directed the Resolution Professional to submit details of the Homebuyers to the Resolution Applicant for preparing an addendum to the Resolution Plan and place them before the CoC within 3 months. It was further directed that the addendum and the CoC minutes should be considered by the Adjudicating Authority while considering the Resolution Plan. It concluded that in the present case, the Resolution Professional said that the unclaimed units have been adjusted implying that the Appellant's claims have also been considered. However, mere adjustment of the unclaimed units does not mean that the appellant's have been duly considered. While relying on the Rahul Jain v. Nilesh,it directed the Resolution Professional to submit the appellant's details to the Resolution Applicant who may include an addendum to the Resolution Plan which will be considered by the CoC. Accordingly, the present appeal was disposed of. Case Title:Sonia Kapoor Versus Arunava Sikdar, IRP Dream Procon Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. Case Number: Comp. App. (AT) (Ins) No. 28 of 2024 Judgment Date: 03/07/2025 For Appellant:: Ms. Eshna Kumar, Mr. Harpreet Singh Malhotra, Mr. Siddharth Bhatli, Ms. Khyati Jain and Ms. Anvesha Jain, Advocates. For Respondents: Mr. Akash Srivastava, Ms. Varsha Banerjee, Advocates. Ms. Prithu Garg, Mr. Shivam Singh and Mr. Ashutosh Arvind Kumar, Advocates for R2. Click Here To Read/Download The Order

Belated Claims Of Homebuyers Can't Be Rejected If Their Units Are Reflected In Corporate Debtor's Records: NCLAT

Mohd Malik Chauhan

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