The Insolvency and bankruptcy Code, 2016
(Code)
is
a modern economic legislation. Section
240 of the Code empowers the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI)
to
make regulations subject to the conditions that the regulations:
(a)
carry
out the provisions of the Code, (b)
are
consistent with the Code and the rules made thereunder; (c)
are
made by a notification published in the official gazette; and (d)
are
laid, as soon as possible, before each House of Parliament for 30 days.
The IBBI has evolved a transparent and
consultative process to make regulations.
It has been endeavor of the IBBI to effectively engage stakeholders in the
regulation making process. The
process generally starts with a working group making draft regulations.
The
IBBI puts these draft
regulations out in public domian seeking comments threon.
It
holds a few round tables to discuss draft regulations with the stakeholders.
It
takes advice of its Advisory Committee. The
process culminates with the Governing Board of the IBBI finalising regulations
and the IBBI notifies them. This
process endevours to factor in ground reality, secures
ownership of regulations and
makes regulations robust and precise, relevant to the time and for the purpose.
Public consultation enables collective
choice and hence plays an important role in evolution of regulatory framework.
The
participation of the public, particularly the stakeholders and the regulated,
in the regulatory process ensures that the regulations are informed by the
legitimate needs of those interested in and affected by regulations.
Usually, a regulator prepares draft
regulations and presents these to the stakeholders to revalidate its
understanding of the issue the said
regulations seek to address, and the appropriateness of
such regulations to address the issue. Based
on the inputs from the stakeholders, the regulator finalizes the regulations
with modifications, as may be warranted. The
IBBI has been essentially following this approach and will continue to do so.
Despite the best of efforts and
intentions, a regulator may not always have the understanding of the ground
realities, as much and as early as the stakeholders and the regulated may have,
particularly in a dynamic environment. The
stakeholders could, therefore, play a more active role in making regulations.
They
may contemplate, at leisure, the important issues in the extant regulatory
framework that hinder transactions and offer alternate solutions to address
them, in addition to responding urgently to draft regulations proposed by the
regulator. This is akin to crowdsourcing
of ideas. This would enable every
idea to reach the regulator. Consequently,
the universe of ideas available with the regulator would be much larger and the
possibility of a more conducive regulatory framework much higher.
Keeping in view the above, the IBBI
invites comments from public,
including the stakeholders and the regulated, on the regulations already
notified under the Code. The comments
received between 4th July, 2017 and 31st December, 2017
shall be processed together and following the due process, regulations will be
modified to the extent considered necessary.
It
will be the endeavor of the IBBI to notify modified regulations by 31st
March, 2018 and bring them into force on 1st April, 2018.
It is clarified that this
is in addition to the extant approach of inviting public comments on draft
regulations before notifying them.
For providing comments, please follow
the process as under:
(i)
Visit IBBI website, www.ibbi.gov.in;
(ii)
Select
‘Public Comments’;
(iii)
Provide
your Name, and Email ID;
(iv)
Select
the stakeholder category, namely,
a. Corporate
Debtor;
b. creditor
to a Corporate Debtor;
c. Insolvency
Professional;
d. Insolvency
Professional Agency;
e. Insolvency
Professional Entity;
f. Academics;
g. Investor;
or
h. Others.
(v)
Select
the regulations, you wish to make a comment upon, from the dropdown menu, as
under:
a. Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India (Model Bye–Laws and Governing Board of Insolvency Professional Agencies) Regulations,
2016;
b. Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India (Insolvency Professional
Agencies) Regulations, 2016;
c. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board
of India (Insolvency Professionals) Regulations, 2016;
e. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Liquidation
Process) Regulations, 2016;
f. Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India (Information utilities) Regulations, 2017;
g. Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board
of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2017;
h. Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India (Fast Track Corporate
Insolvency Resolution Process) Regulations, 2017; or
i.
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Inspections
and Investigations) Regulations, 2017.
Kindly
note that the selected regulations can be found by clicking the pdf icon right
next to the ‘select regulations’ option.
(vi)
Select
the kind of comments you wish to make, namely,
a. General
Comments; or
b. Specific
Comments.
(vii)
If
you have selected ‘General Comments’, please select one of the following
options:
a. Inconsistency,
if any, between the provisions within the regulations (intra–regulations);
b. Inconsistency,
if any, between the provisions in different regulations (inter–regulations);
c. Inconsistency,
if any, between the provisions in the regulations with
those in the rules;
d. Inconsistency,
if any, between the provisions in the regulations with
those in the Code;
e. Inconsistency,
if any, between the provisions in the regulations with those in any other
law;
f. Any
difficulty in implementation of any of the provisions in the regulations; and
g. Any
provision that should have been provided in the regulations, but has not been
provided; or
h. Any
provision that has been provided in the regulations, but should not have been
provided.
And
then write comments under the selected option.
(viii)
If
you have selected ‘Specific Comments’, please select
regulation number and then sub-regulation number, and write comments under the
selected regulation / sub-regulation number.
(ix)
You
can make comments on more than one regulations, or more than one regulation /
sub-regulation number, by clicking on more comments and repeating the process
outlined above from point 8(v) onwards.
(x)
Click
‘Submit’, if you have no more comments to make.
Illustration
9.
If you are a creditor to a corporate debtor and wish to
make a specific comment on the sub-regulation 1 of
regulation 6 relating to Eligibility for appointment of
Liquidator as specified in the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation Process) Regulations,
2017. The steps that you need to follow are:
i.
Visit IBBI website, www.ibbi.gov.in;
ii.
Select “Public Comments”;
iii.
Provide your Name and Email ID.
iv.
Select the stakeholder category, which in this case is “Creditor
to a Corporate Debtor”
v.
Select the regulations, which in this case is “Insolvency
and Bankruptcy Board of India (Voluntary Liquidation
Process) Regulations, 2017;
vi.
Select ‘Specific Comments’;
vii.
Select the regulation / sub-regulation number, which in this case is “Regulation 6” and “Sub Regulation (1)”;
viii.
Write comment in the box “Comments”;
ix.
If you wish to make comment on another
regulations, or another regulation number of the same regulations, repeat the process from ‘v.’ onwards by
clicking the icon ‘More Comments’;
x.
Click ‘Submit’, after you have made all comments.
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DSM/SBS/KA
