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NATIONAL COMPANY LAW APPELLATE TRIBUNAL

PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI

Comp. App. (AT) (Ins) No. 730 of 2026

IN THE MATTER OF:

Aggarwal Ply House …Appellant(s)

Versus

Techno Fac Contracts Pvt. Ltd. …Respondent(s)

Present:

For Appellant : Mr. Pratham Mehrotra, Adv.

For Respondents : Mr. Bhupesh N., Rinku N. Adv. for R1

O R D E R

(Hybrid Mode)

22.04.2026: This appeal has been filed against the impugned order

dated 25.03.2026 by which a section 9 application filed by the Appellant has

been rejected on the ground that interest component cannot be added and

the principal amount is less than the threshold as required to be fulfilled by

Section 4 of the Code.

2. Ld. Counsel for the Appellant submitted that the invoices which were

sent by the OC were duly counter signed by the CD and hence, interest of

24% which was mentioned in the invoices has to be treated to have been

accepted by the CD and the claim of the interest was thus fully maintainable.

3. Ld. Counsel for the Appellant has relied before the AA on a judgment of

this Tribunal in Prashant Agarwal Vs. Vikash Parasrampuria, Sole Proprietor

of Chiranjilal Yarns Trading and Ors. and another judgment. The Adjudicating

Authority has noticed all relevant judgments including the subsequent

judgment of this Tribunal where the judgment of Prashant Agarwal was also

noticed and considered in para 16 to 18 of the judgment. The Adjudicating

Authority has made following observations :-

“16. However, in subsequent development, the Hon’ble NCLAT in

Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 386 of 2025-M/S SNJ

Synthetics Ltd. v. M/S PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. Ltd. decided on

07.05.2025, has observed that where interest was sought on

delayed payments on the basis of invoices there has to be an

element of mutual consent and mutual understanding regarding the

agreed interest between the parties. The abovementioned judgement

in Prashant Agarwal, Member of Suspended Board of Bombay

Rayon Fashions Limited v. Vikash Parasrampuria, Sole Proprietor of

Chiranjilal Yarns Trading and Ors. (supra) was also considered by

the NCLAT in this judgement. The relevant extract of the said

judgement is reproduced hereinunder:

“Since there has been no amendment of the Agreement, the terms

agreed between the parties in the Supply Agreement prevail over

unilateral invoices. Even though invoices can play a crucial role in

defining the rights and obligations between parties, however, there

has to be an element of mutual consent, which can be discernible

from conduct. When the ingredient of levy of interest on delayed

payment is absent in the written contract, stipulation of interest

payment in invoices can override the written contract only if there is

mutual consent and understanding between the parties in this

regard which in the present case has not been demonstrated by

conduct and practice. There is no evidence of payment of interest by

the Respondent which has been substantiated by the Appellant. We

are therefore inclined to agree with the Adjudicating Authority that

unilaterally generated invoices signed by one party cannot overrun

or recast the terms of bi-partite agreements and create binding

obligations on the other party to pay interest.”

17. Also, the Hon’ble NCLAT in the matter of Rishabh Through Hari

Mohan Gupta v. Sadbhav Engineering Ltd. [2024 SCC OnLine

NCLAT 1262] in Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 1881 of 2024

decided on 04.11.2024, has observed the following:

“9. We are of the view that invoices which have been sent by the

Operational Creditor containing the term of interest cannot be

operated against the Corporate Debtor unless there is an agreement

for interest or any other document showing that the Corporate Debtor

has accepted the obligation for interest.

10. There is nothing to substantiate that the Corporate Debtor has

accepted the obligation to pay the interest @24% per month, as

claimed by the Operational Creditor…..”

18. This Tribunal referring to the judgements of Hon’ble NCLAT in

M/S SNJ Synthetics Ltd. v. M/S PepsiCo India Holdings Pvt. L