Supreme Court judge Justice N Kotiswar Singh recently observed that the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016, is a mechanism for revival rather than liquidation, stressing that it had transformed the approach towards corporate distress..He was speaking at the August 28 launch of Legal Kisse Digest on IBC, 2016, authored by Ashutosh Gupta and Gaurav Rana, at an event also attended by Delhi High Court Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyay, and Justice Hari Shankar of the Delhi High Court..Justice Singh underlined that the IBC was never intended to be a liquidation-focused law.“IBC resolution process is not of liquidation but of resurrection. It was needed because earlier processes were in fragments. IBC prevents forum shopping also, delay has also been prevented to a great extent,” he said.He likened the Code to a “specialist hospital” for distressed companies.“I consider this entire process to be a specialist hospital. You see reflection of all this in IBC. When a company is going down, the immediate response is for them to rush to NCLT. Professionals will diagnose what is to be done. It provides an organic systematic platform,” he explained..Referring to a study by IIM Ahmedabad, Justice Singh added that entities in crisis had benefited from the intervention of insolvency professionals. “Entities that are going through crisis, once they are put in IBC, professionals come in and try to resurrect the company,” he remarked.He also pointed out that employment across listed companies had shown an increase after resolution processes. “One of the criticisms of our legal system is that once you get caught there is nowhere to come out. IBC is a departure from this. These are very positive signs,” he added.The judge emphasised that insolvency law had immense impact on employees and urged law students to develop technical proficiency alongside legal knowledge. Noting that keeping pace with technology is important for lawyers, he said,“Technocrats have no idea of legal system; legal eagles don’t have any idea of technology. Students must be equally adept and proficient on technical aspects — that’s how you can cope with AI."Justice Singh encouraged young lawyers to see IBC practice as more than the application of statutory provisions.“A lawyer practising in IBC must be well equipped in dealing with demands. When a company goes down, all those involved must be encouraged to bring out the best result possible. It’s not only pure knowledge of certain sections of company,” he noted..Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya commended those behind the newly launched IBC digest.“I must congratulate the authors to have come up with this digest. I was amazed how a book like this could be brought up in digital era. Books would never lose importance in our lives. When I saw this digest, I got a bit nostalgic. When I entered this profession we would research on digests. I must again congratulate and wish this digest a great success," he said. .Justice Hari Shankar added,“What we see in day-to-day life is that IBC is now permeating all subjects. There is such a lot of jurisprudence developing day-to-day. It’s a very welcome thing to find books. Internet can never replace a book, even today if I find a thorny issue in CPC, I go to Mulla.”.Senior Vice President of the National Company Law Tribunal Bar Association, Senior Advocate P Nagesh said, “We categorised the book into various provisions that are being deliberated at courts. We had several of these issues mentioned in the book. I request all of you to have a look at it and purchase it.”Speaking on the newly launched digest, author Ashutosh Gupta said,"As a regular practitioner at NCLT and NCLAT, we recognised what is needed. What started as a vision has now resulted in this book. This book is a combined and committed effort of the entire team.”Author Gaurav Rana added,“This endeavour (of this book) is truly a collective one. We are confident that this book will benefit both the Bench and Bar.”
