Electricity Supplier cannot deny to grant fresh/restore connection of electricity to Successful Bidder and No liability can be fastened for past dues which has already been dealt as per distribution carried out by liquidator u/s 53 of IBC – Chinar Steel Segments Centre Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Samir Kumar Agarwal, Liquidator of Bhaskar Shrachi Alloys Ltd. & Anr. – NCLAT New Delhi
Hon’ble NCLAT held that:
(i) The essential ingredients for maintainability of application u/s 60(5) are that:- (a) In the Application, any question of law or facts arising out of or in relation to the insolvency resolution; (b) for any question of law or facts arising out of or in relation to the liquidation proceedings
(ii) It is settled law that claim which has been filed and dealt with in the resolution process or in the liquidation proceedings shall extinguish the claim and cannot be re-agitated after the process is completed.
(iii) When claim of the R2 was dealt with in the liquidation proceedings as per Section 53, it is not open for the R2 to renew the said claim and insist for payment of entire dues which has been dealt in the liquidation process.
(iv) Corporate Debtor should have been liquidated and claim of all stakeholders has been dealt with and distributed, the stakeholders cannot be allowed to again re-agitate the claim against an entity which has taken the Corporate Debtor as a going concern.
(v) No liability can be fastened by R2 of its past dues for which he has already filed a claim in the liquidation proceedings which stands satisfied as per distribution carried out by the liquidator under Section 53 of the IBC.
(vi) The R2 cannot insist that unless the arrears of the electricity dues which dues were payable by the Corporate Debtor prior to disconnection are paid by the Appellant only then communication can be issued.