]In order to avoid administrative delays in appointment of a resolution professional, the insolvency and bankruptcy board of India (IBBI) plans to provide a list of such qualified professionals to the adjudicating authority to choose from.

       IBBI in its new guidelines has said that it would create a panel of insolvency professionals which would be updated every six months. The Board has also prepared an algorithm to place the insolvency professionals (IPs) on a panel in a particular order. The IP who has the lowest volume of ongoing processes will get a score of 100 and will be at the top of the Panel. The IP who has the highest volume of ongoing processes will get a score of zero.

       Both the national company law tribunal and the debt recovery tribunal may pick up any name from the Panel for appointment of IRP, Liquidator, RP, for a CIRP, Liquidation Process, Insolvency Resolution or Bankruptcy Process relating to a corporate debtors and personal guarantors to corporate debtors, as required.

       Experts said that the move would give opportunities to more professionals to get exposure and also equal opportunity.

       Section 16(3)(a) of the Code requires the Adjudicating Authority to make a reference to the Board for recommendation of an IP, who may act as an interim resolution professional (IRP) in cases where an operational creditor has made a CIRP application and has not proposed an IRP.

       “Under the new guidelines notified, the Adjudicating Authority is directly empowered to make appointments from a panel of qualified IRP,RP and Liquidators prepared by the IBBI. This would hopefully reduce the time taken by the Adjudicating Authorities in making appointments of IRP/RPs and Liquidators,” said Sushmita Gandhi, partner, Indus Law.

       IBBI said that the time it receives the direction from the tribunal, it does not have information about the volume, nature and complexity of an insolvency or bankruptcy process and the resources available at the disposal of an insolvency professional. “In such a situation, the Board is unlikely to add much value by recommending an IP for the process. Further, it takes some time for a reference or a direction from the AA to reach the Board,” the IBBI said. .

       The regulator said that it may take up to ten days to identify an IP and even more time for its recommendation to reach the concerned tribunal. “The process of appointment may entail 2-3 weeks, which could be saved if the AA has a ready Panel of IPs recommended by the Board and it can pick up any name from the Panel for appointment while issuing the Order itself,” the IBBI said.