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2020 Supreme(Guj) 833
IN THE HIGH COURT OF GUJARAT AT AHMEDABAD
UMESH A. TRIVEDI, J.
RITSPIN SYNTHETICS LIMITED - Appellant
Versus
TIRUMALA BALAJI ALLOYS PRIVATE LIMITED - Respondent
SPECIAL CIVIL APPLICATION NO. 12017 of 2020
Decided On : 03-11-2020
For the Appellant :MR MIHIR JOSHI, SR. ADVOCATE FOR NANAVATI ASSOCIATES
For the Respondent:MR RATNANKO BANERJEE, SR. ADVOCATE WITH MS UJJAINI, CHATERJEE, ADVOCATE WITH MR ARJUN ASTHANA, ADVOCATE WITH MR.BHASH H MANKAD
Point of Law: Purpose of issuing notice under Rule 37 of the NCLT Rules, is to bring to the notice of the filing of the proceeding against the corporate debtor under Section 7 of 'the Code'
Headnote:
Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 - Section 7 - NCLT Rules - Rule 49 (2) - Transfer Petition - Special Civil Application - Writ petition under Article 226 and/or 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner challenged the orders passed on various dates by the National Company Law Tribunal, Indore Bench while conducting the matter being Transfer Petition filed by the Respondent No.1 against petitioner –
Finding of the Court:
Since no orders are passed on merit either on the IA and no cognizance is yet taken of other two IAs -IA, Court should direct the adjudicating authority to decide the same - As noticed earlier, after filing of each IA's petitioner has not even bothered to request the 'Adjudicating Authority' to hear the same, orally or in writing, though counsel of the petitioner asked for adjournment orally, which is recorded in orders, for submitting reply/ objection - However, as held earlier, these are attempts with a view to further delay the proceedings initiated and even the adjudicating authority was never requested to take up the hearing of those applications despite ample opportunity to him, the said submission is required to be rejected outright –
Result: Petition rejected
JUDGMENT :
1. By filing this writ petition under Article 226 and/or 227 of the Constitution of India, the petitioner challenged the orders passed on various dates by the National Company Law Tribunal, Indore Bench at Ahmedabad (for short, 'Adjudicating Authority') while conducting the matter being Transfer Petition No.19 of 2019 [Company Petition (I.B.) No.260 of 2019] filed by the Respondent No.1 against the petitioner under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (herein after referred to as 'the Code') praying for following reliefs:
(a) That this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of prohibition and/or an appropriate writ, order and/or direction, quashing and setting aside the impugned orders dated 12.12.2019, 16.01.2020, 21.02.2020, 20.03.2020, 09.07.2020, 07.08.2020, 27.08.2020 and 11.09.2020 passed by the Adjudicating Authority in Transfer Petition No.19 of 2019 [Company Petition (I.B.) No.260 of 2019] filed by the Respondent No.1.;
(b) This Hon'ble Court may be pleased to issue a writ of prohibition prohibiting the Adjudicating Authority from adjudicating the Transfer Petition No.19 of 2019 (Company Petition (I.B.) No.260 of 2019) pending before it;
(c) Pending hearing and final disposal of the present petition, this Hon'ble Court may be pleased to direct the Adjudicating Authority to adjourn the proceedings of Transfer Petition No19 of 2019 (Company Petition (I.B.) No.260 of 2019);
(d) Ex-parte ad-interim relief in terms of payer (c) may kindly be granted AND,
(e) Such other and further relief as deemed just and expedient may be granted.
2. Respondent No.1 herein filed proceedings under Section 7 of 'the Code' before the NCLT, Ahmedabad Bench, Ahmedabad on 18.3.2019 which was listed before the Bench on 24.4.2019. The NCLT, Ahmedabad issued notice upon the petitioner herein directing him to file objections, if any, and made returnable on 4.7.2019. Though, no details are put forward what happened after service of the notice to the petitioner. However, petitioner filed Special Civil Application No.15841 of 2019 before this Court praying for quashing and setting aside orders dated 4.7.2019 and 28.8.2019 passed by the NCLT, Ahmedabad directing petitioner to file its objections to the Company Petition (I.B.) No.260 of 2019. After arriving at broad consensus between the petitioner and Respondent No.1 herein, this Court vide an order dated 10.12.2019 in the aforesaid Special Civil Application on the statement of learned advocates for both the parties appearing therein, ordered that let the Special Bench of NCLT, under order dated 15.10.2019 (of Registrar, NCLT, Delhi) hear the matter afresh denovo. In view of the aforesaid joint request, this Court directed Special Bench of NCLT comprising of the Officers named therein in view of order dated 15.10.2019 of Registrar, NCLT, Delhi to hear the matter No.C.P.(I.B.) No.260/7/NCLT/AHM/2019 afresh denovo and as a consequence, all the orders passed previous to the order dated 15.10.2019 were quashed and set aside. At the same time, this Court determined next date of hearing before the Special Bench of NCLT which was fixed on 12.12.2019.
3. On 12.12.2019, parties appeared through their counsels and the learned advocate for the petitioner sought for an adjournment to file reply. The Tribunal, NCLT, Indore Bench at Ahmedabad (Adjudicating Authority) numbered it as TP 19 of 2019 [CP (IB) 260/2019] granted 2 weeks time to the petitioner for filing objections to the proceedings initiated against it and the matter was ordered to be listed on 16.1.2020. Again on that day, learned counsel for the petitioner requested for further time to file reply and it was granted, though vehemently objected to by the Respondent No.1 herein, for 10 days to file reply / objections and thereafter, the matter was posted for hearing on 21.2.2020. Again on that day, the petitioner asked for further time to file reply. After recording earlier events, whereby petitioner was granted sufficient time, t
