Assam Tea Employees Provident Fund Organization Vs Madhur Agarwal (NCLAT)
NCLAT Delhi held that provident fund dues are not the assets of the Corporate Debtor and they have to be paid in full of all the pending dues of the Provident Fund Contribution, Provident Fund Administrative Cost, Interest for delay etc.
Facts-
The Adjudicating Authority vide order dated 21.01.2020 initiated Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (‘CIRP’) against Corporate Debtor HAIL Tea Limited. The Appellant submitted claim of Rs. 2,10,13,797.92/- on account of default on part of the Corporate Debtor to deposit its Provident Fund Contribution, Provident Fund Administrative Cost, Interest for delay etc.
The Resolution Professional admitted the entire claim of the Appellant. Resolution Plan submitted by Respondent no. 2 was approved by NCLT. In the Resolution Plan, the Appellant was proposed an amount of only Rs. 1,07,21,592/-. The Resolution professional made part payment of Rs. 64,30,222/-. Being aggrieved by the order, the Appellant has come up in this Appeal.
Conclusion-
Held that Appellant is an Operational Creditor and both Operational Creditor and Financial Creditor has taken haircut, also cannot be accepted. As held by this Tribunal in above case “Regional P.F. Commissioner”, provident fund dues are not the assets of the Corporate Debtor and they have to be paid in full. Hence, the Appellant was clearly entitled for payment of full provident fund dues i.e. an amount of Rs. 2,10,13,798/-.
FULL TEXT OF THE NCLAT JUDGMENT/ORDER
1. This Appeal has been filed challenging the Judgement/Order dated 03rd January, 2022 passed by the National Company Law Tribunal, Kolkata Bench, Kolkata (hereinafter referred to as “The Adjudicating Authority”) in I.A. No. 290/KB/2021 in C.P. (IB) No. 1911/KB/2019.
2. Brief facts of the case for deciding this Appeal are:-
