The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday granted three weeks’ time to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to file its response to a plea by Adisri Commercial, the erstwhile promoter company of two insolvent Srei firms.
Adisri Commercial, the promoter company of Srei Infrastructure Finance (SIFL) and Srei Equipment Finance (SEFL), moved the appellate tribunal after NCLT Kolkata bench dismissed its application, which urged the tribunal to recall the order initiating insolvency proceedings against the two NBFCs. The NCLT approved the resolution plan of state-backed National Asset Reconstruction Company (NARCL) for the two Srei companies under the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP).
The NCLAT bench, comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan (Chairperson) and Barun Mitra (Member Technical), on Wednesday heard Ranjeet Kumar, senior counsel, and Abhijeet Sinha, counsel for Adisri Commercial.
Senior counsel Gopal Jain, who appeared for RBI, submitted before the bench that in the facts of the present case and the sequence of events the appeals need not be entertained by this tribunal. Jain prayed for three weeks’ time to file the reply.
The bench granted the RBI three weeks’ time to file its response. It posted the matter for the next hearing on September 25.
Adisri Commercial, which has an around 60% stake in SIFL, earlier questioned the NCLT’s order on initiating the CIRP against SIFL and its subsidiary SEFL since it disclosed “error apparent on face of records” as the dates of defaults mentioned in the order allegedly fall within a period when initiation of CIRP was barred under Section 10A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
The Kolkata bench of the NCLT on last Friday dismissed Adisri’s application and approved resolution plan of NARCL for the two insolvent Srei companies.
The consolidated committee of creditors (CoC) for the two firms had in February approved the resolution plan of NARCL with the highest voting amongst the bidders.
The insolvency proceedings against SIFL and SEFL commenced in October 2021 after insolvency petitions filed by the RBI were approved by the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal. The total admitted claims of the financial creditors of the two NBFCs are at Rs 32,750.22 crore. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, Union Bank of India, Canara Bank, IDBI Bank, UCO Bank and Indian Overseas Bank, among others, are the financial creditors of the two firms.
The administrator of two insolvent Srei companies, Rajneesh Sharma, received the RBI’s “fit-and-proper” approval for NARCL on March 23.