JUDGMENT

L. Nageswara Rao. J.

The above appeals are filed against the interim orders passed by the High Court of Judicature at Bombay on 10.10.2019, 17.10.2019 and 13.11.2019. The order dated 08.11.2019 passed by the Debts Recovery Tribunal-I, Mumbai following the order of the High Court dated 17.10.2019 is also in challenge in the above appeals. For the sake of convenience, the facts in Commercial Suit No.1034 of 2019, filed by Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd. are referred to in this judgment. Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as, 'Respondent No.4') filed Commercial Suit No.1034 of 2019 for recovery of a sum of Rs.479,31,29,113/- along with interest at the rate of 18 per cent. In a nutshell, the case of Respondent No.4 is that it subscribed to Non-Convertible Debentures (NCDs) of Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL, hereinafter referred to as, 'Respondent No.T) to the tune of Rs.63,41,72,000/, that were issued through a public offer. In 2017-2018, Respondent No.4 further subscribed to NCDs of Respondent No.1, aggregating to Rs. 365 crores, issued on a private placement basis. Respondent No.4 became entitled to early redemption of private placement NCDs in March, 2019 due to the down grading in ratings of the NCDs issued by Respondent No.1. Respondent No.1 failed to pay the entire amount towards the early redemption.

2. By an order dated 30.09.2019, the High Court of Judicature at Bombay restrained Respondent No.1 from making further payments disbursements to any unsecured creditors and secured creditors except in cases where payments are to be made on a pro-rata basis to all secured creditors out of its current and future receivables in preference to the payments owed to Respondent No.4.

3. By an order dated 10.10.2019, the High Court directed the continuance of the order passed on 30.09.2019 till the disposal of the motion. Similar orders were passed in the interim applications filed in the other commercial suits by orders dated 17.10.2019, 08.11.2019 and 13.11.2019. It was clarified by the High Court on 13.11.2019 that Respondent No.1 shall not be prevented from making any payments overdue or payable under the assignment agreements in favour of any or all such banks or assignees of loans.

4. The Appellants are depositors who invested in fixed deposits with the Respondent No.1-DHFL. Having been aggrieved by the interim orders passed by the High Court and the Debts Recovery Tribunal-I, Mumbai restraining Respondent No.1 from making any payments towards their fixed deposits, the Appellants challenged the orders of the High Court with the leave of this Court.

5. By placing reliance on Section 36 and 36 (A) of the National Housing Bank Act, 1987 and Section 45 (q) (a) of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934, Mr. Jayant Bhushan, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Appellants submitted that the repayments of the deposits of the Appellants should be given preference over the contractual claims of the debenture holders. Notice was issued by this Court on 13.12.2019. On that day, Mr. K. V. Vishwanathan, learned Senior Counsel appearing for the Reserve Bank of India submitted that the Reserve Bank of India has filed an application under Section 227 and 239 (2) (zk) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as, IBQ read with Rule 5 and 6 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Insolvency and Liquidation Proceedings of Financial Service Providers and Application to Adjudicatory Authority), Rules, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the 'F5P Rules') before the National Company Law Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as, NCLT), Mumbai to initiate the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Respondent No.1. Mr. Vishwanathan also informed this Court that an order was passed by the NCLT on 03.12.2019, imposing moratorium under Section 14 of the IBC prohibiting the institution of any suit or continuation of proceedings or execution of any decree against the F