3. Eligibility for resolution professional.
(1) An insolvency professional shall be eligible to be appointed as a resolution professional for a corporate insolvency resolution process of a corporate debtor if he, and all partners and directors of the insolvency professional entity of which he is a partner or director, are independent of the corporate debtor.
Explanation– A person shall be considered independent of the corporate debtor, if he:
(a) is eligible to be appointed as an independent director on the board of the corporate debtor under section 149 of the Companies Act, 2013 (18 of 2013), where the corporate debtor is a company;
(b) is not a related party of the corporate debtor; or
(c) is not an employee or proprietor or a partner:
(i) of a firm of auditors or company secretaries in practice or cost auditors of the corporate debtor; or
(ii) of a legal or a consulting firm, that has or had any transaction with the corporate debtor amounting to ten per cent or more of the gross turnover of such firm, in the last three financial years.
Where the committee decides to appoint the interim resolution professional as resolution professional or replace the interim resolution professional under section 22 or replace the resolution professional under section 27, it shall obtain the written consent of the proposed resolution professional in of the Schedule.
(2) A resolution professional shall make disclosures at the time of his appointment and thereafter in accordance with the Code of Conduct.
An interim resolution professional or a resolution professional, who is a director or a partner of an insolvency professional entity, shall not continue as the interim resolution professional or resolution professional, as the case may be, in a corporate insolvency resolution process, if the insolvency professional entity or any other partner or director of such insolvency professional entity represents any other stakeholder in that corporate insolvency resolution process.
(3) A resolution professional, who is a director or a partner of an insolvency professional entity, shall not continue as a resolution professional in a corporate insolvency resolution process if the insolvency professional entity or any other partner or director of such insolvency professional entity represents any of the other stakeholders in the same corporate insolvency resolution process.