Under Section 9 of the IBC, 2016 In the matter of Sendoz Commercial Private Limited …Operational Creditor v/s.

IREL (India) Limited …Corporate Debtor Order Pronounced on: 24.02.2023 Coram:

Mr. Prabhat Kumar Mr. Kishore Vemulapalli Hon’ble Member (Technical) Hon’ble Member (Judicial)

Appearances (via videoconferencing):

For the Petitioner: Mr. Suyog Mujumdar, Advocate.

For the Respondent: Ms. Consulta Juris, Advocate.

ORDER

Per: Prabhat Kumar, Member (Technical)

1. This is a Company Petition filed under Section 9 of the Insolvency &

Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) by Sendoz Commercial Private Limited (“the Operational Creditor”) on 14.04.2021, seeking to initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against IREL (India) Private Limited (“the Corporate Debtor”) for the amount payable to the Operational Creditor.

2. The Corporate Debtor is a company incorporated on 18.08.1950, is a Government of India undertaking under the control of Department of Atomic Energy, a company limited by shares with the Registrar of Companies, Maharashtra, Mumbai. Its Corporate Identity Number (CIN) is U15100MH1950GOI008187. Its registered office is at Plot 1207, ECIL Building, 1207 Veer Savarkar Marg, Prabhadevi, Mumbai – 400 028, Maharashtra. Therefore, this Bench has jurisdiction to deal with the present Petition.

3. The present petition was filed by the Operational Creditor before this Tribunal on the ground that the Corporate Debtor failed to make payment of a total sum of Rs.2,16,62,305/- (Rupees Two crore sixteen lakh sixty-two thousand three hundred and five only) out of which the principal sum is Rs.1,83,57,886/-. The date of default is 23.03.2020 as per the details given in Part-IV of the Petition.

4. The case of the Operational Creditor is as under:

a) The Operational Creditor submits that it has supplied 4044.52 MT of Coal valued at Rs.1,83,57,886/- on 22.02.2020 to the Corporate Debtor against their Purchase Order No. 36/P/02171/PT/PO-36-01060 dated 28.01.2020 and an invoice was raised for the same value (Rs.1,83,57,886/-) on 22.02.2020 and sent to the Corporate Debtor on the same date. Though, the Corporate Debtor informed the Operational Creditor through an email dated 25.02.2020 that the consignment has been rejected due to inferior quality as the sample testing carried out by the Corporate Debtor, but had not supplied any test report in support of inferior quality allegation. The Operational Creditor has further stated that prior to loading and dispatching of the consignment, a sample test was conducted by the Operational Creditor and the quality criterion were met.

b) In the Purchase Order of the Corporate Debtor, it is clearly indicated in Clause 3 that if the Supplier/Operational Creditor is not satisfied with the test conducted by the Purchaser/Corporate Debtor, the Creditor could ask for ‘referee sample’ to be tested in a government lab whose result shall be ‘final and binding’. In accordance with the said Clause, the Operational Creditor communicated to the Corporate Debtor through email on 29.02.2020 requesting the Corporate Debtor to conduct a sample test in a government laboratory. Due to Covid-19 and delayed communications, took long time to confirm the suggested testing in the government laboratory. Finally, on 14.08.2020 sample was sent to National Metallurgical Laboratory (NML), Jamshedpur for testing, however, the test report was not given to the Operational Creditor. The Petitioner further states that on 25.09.2020, Mr. Ramakrishna, representative of the Corporate Debtor verbally intimated to the Operational Creditor that the report of the sample tested was above the required specification of 3000 kcal/kg which is within the required quality as per the Purchase Order dated 28.01.2020. Upon confirmation of the test result, the Operational Creditor sent email to the Corporate Debtor requesting to release the payment of the goods supplied vide Invoice dated 22.02.2020, however, no payment was released. Since no payments are rece