The Delhi High Court dismissed a writ petition filed by Insolvency Professional challenging the disciplinary order of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI). The Disciplinary Committee of IBBI had, by its order dated March 4, 2024, suspended Insolvency Professional’s registration for two years  and directed him to refund half of the professional fees paid to Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP (DTTILLP) to the Consolidated Fund of India.

The disciplinary action stemmed from findings that Insolvency Professional, while acting as liquidator for Lanco and resolution professional for SPPL, had committed multiple contraventions under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and the associated regulations. The Court found that he had improperly delegated core liquidator functions to DTTILLP, an entity in which he was a partner and had failed to file an avoidance application in the SPPL matter within the prescribed timelines.

Justice Subramonium Prasad held that the IBBI’s order followed due process and did not suffer from any procedural or legal infirmity. The Court emphasized that under Article 226, judicial review is confined to examining the fairness of the decision-making process and not to substituting the Court’s view for that of an expert regulatory body.

Observing that insolvency professionals must uphold the highest standards of ethics and integrity, the Court noted that professionals who act “more like scavengers of a dead body for their own ulterior motives” strike at the core objectives of the IBC. Finding no perversity in IBBI’s findings or penalty, the Court dismissed the petition, upholding both the two-year suspension and the direction to refund 50% of DTTILLP’s fee, while granting the petitioner six weeks’ time to deposit the amount.