The Supreme Court (‘SC’) in State Bank of India v. Consortium of Mr. Murari Lal Jalan and Mr. Florian Fritsch,^[1] invoked its inherent powers under Article 142 of the Constitution of India (‘Constitution’), to direct liquidation of Jet Airways (India) Limited (‘Jet Airways’), putting an end to its Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (‘CIRP’) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (‘IBC’). The SC, inter alia, held that timely implementation of a resolution plan is one of the underlying objectives of the IBC as unnecessary delay may result in diminishing of value of the assets of a corporate debtor.

The SC further held that the existing insolvency framework does not provide any scope for effecting modifications or withdrawal of a resolution plan upon its approval by the adjudicating authority. Accordingly, the submitted resolution plan is binding and irrevocable and a successful resolution applicant (‘SRA’) is required to implement the resolution plan strictly in accordance with its terms, and the consequence of non-implementation of a resolution plan by the SRA must necessarily be liquidation of the corporate debtor.

[1] State Bank of India and Ors. v. Consortium of Mr. Murari Lal Jalan and Mr. Florian Fritsch and Another, 2024 SCC OnLine SC 3187.