It is not for the Adjudicating Authority to ascertain, investigate, or fix the exact amount of liability at the admission stage, after the admission of the petition, it is the duty of the Resolution Professional to collate the claims and ascertain the liability – Mr Joseph Jayananda Vs. Navalmar (UK) Ltd – NCLAT New Delhi
April 10, 2021
It is held that as per the General Agency Agreement between the Operational Creditor and the Corporate Debtor, the Corporate Debtor acted as an agent of the former in India and collected various payments due to the Operational Creditor's customers remitted the same to the Operational Creditor. The Operational Creditor has annexed various invoices and debit notes with the Petition as evidence of the claim amount. Since the Corporate Debtor was an agent and service provider of the Operational Creditor, the amounts due under the transactions would fall within the ambit of Operational Debt as defined under Section 5 (21) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016. NCLAT also held that the Corporate Debtor's main contention is that the amounts paid by the Operational Creditor and its financial statements do not match. It is not for the Adjudicating Authority to ascertain, investigate, or fix the exact amount of liability at the admission stage. After the admission of the petition, it is the duty of the Resolution Professional to collate the claims and ascertain the liability.