A homebuyer files a claim in the insolvency of a real estate company, the resolution professional verifies it, admits it, and lists it. Then the approved resolution plan makes no provision for it. Once the National Company Law Tribunal approves a plan under Section 31 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, that plan binds every creditor, and claims outside it stand extinguished. Does the same fate meet a claim that was submitted, verified and admitted, but simply left out of the plan? The Code treats that differently from a claim never lodged, and the difference is where a homebuyer's remedies live. This explainer maps the professional's duties, the binding effect of an approved plan, the distinction the courts draw, and the sequence of forums a homebuyer can approach.
The Resolution Professional's Duty to Verify and Collate Every Claim
The starting point is that admitting a claim is not a courtesy. It is a statutory function. Regulation 13 of the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Corporate Persons) Regulations, 2016 requires the professional to verify every claim as on the insolvency commencement date within seven days of the last date for receiving claims, and then to maintain a list of creditors, updating it as needed. Where the professional does not collate a claim after verifying it, Regulation 13 requires reasons for that non-collation to be recorded.
"The interim resolution professional or the resolution professional, as the case may be, shall verify every claim, as on the insolvency commencement date, within seven days from the last date of the receipt of the claims, and thereupon maintain a list of creditors containing names of creditors along with the amount claimed by them, the amount of their claims admitted and the security interest, if any, in respect of such claims, and update it."
The regulation also handles late claims received up to seven days before the Committee of Creditors votes on a plan: sub-regulations (1A) to (1C) require the professional to verify them, categorise them as acceptable or non-acceptable with reasons, and put acceptable claims to the Committee for its recommendation on inclusion.
Section 25 reinforces the duty: the professional must collect and collate all claims, verify them, maintain a list of creditors with verified claims, and present it to the Committee. Section 18 casts the same functions on the interim resolution professional until the Committee confirms an appointee. Read together, these provisions establish that all admitted claims must be carried into the Information Memorandum, and that the professional cannot arbitrarily drop an admitted claim.