JUDGMENT :

Dhananjaya Y Chandrachud, J.

1. Admit.

2. The present appeal under Section 62 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016¹[“IBC”] has arisen from a judgment of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal²[“NCLAT”/“Appellate Authority”] dated 30 July 2020, which upheld an order dated 28 February 2020 of the National Company Law Tribunal³[“NCLT”/“Adjudicating Authority”] at its Bengaluru Bench.

3. On a petition⁴[C.P(IB)No. 188/BB/2019] which was instituted by the appellants (and others) under Section 7 of the IBC for initiating the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process⁵[“CIRP”] in respect of the respondent, the NCLT declined to admit the petition and instead directed the respondent to settle the claims within three months. The NCLAT found no merit in the appeal⁶[Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No 649 of 2020] against the NCLT’s order.

4. The issue which arises for adjudication before this Court is whether, in terms of the provisions of the IBC, the Adjudicating Authority can without applying its mind to the merits of the petition under Section 7, simply dismiss the peti