The seven-judge bench of the Supreme Court in N N
Global1 had an opportunity to
conclusively decide on the admissibility of the unstamped (or
insufficiently stamped) documents. But unfortunately the Court
looked at the issue with a narrow lens and restricted itself to the
referral under the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996. This was
not the first time that the Supreme Court was called on to
adjudicate on this issue, and in fact, the time spent by the Court
on this is concerning.
The time is definitely a major factor in insolvency proceedings.
And despite the insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency and
Bankruptcy Code, 2016, as amended
(“IBC”) being summary in nature, the
tribunals spend (and are routinely forced to spend) inordinate time
to dispose of matters. One such issue that is clogging the
tribunals is the unstamped documents. We briefly discuss below on
this issue.
