VALMIKI J. MEHTA, J (ORAL)

1. This suit was not being proceeded with inasmuch as the defendant-company was said to have become a sick company and proceedings were pending under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA). In terms of Section 22 of SICA, prima facie the plaintiff had to take prior permission of Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR)/Appellate Authority for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR) before continuing with the suit.

2. The law is now however settled by a Division Bench judgment of three Judges of the Supreme Court in the case of Raheja Universal Limited Vs. NRC Limited and Ors. (2012) 4 SCC 148. Paras 55, 58 and 77 to 81 of the said judgment are relevant and the same read as under:-

“55. Despite these judgments and with an intention to clarify the law, we would state that the matters which are connected with the sanctioning and implementation of the scheme right from the date on which it is presented or the date from which the scheme is made effective, whichever is earlier, would be the matters which squarely fall within the ambit and scope of Section 22 of the Act of 1989 subject to their satis