JUDGMENT in CP (IB) No. 207/Chd/Pb/2021

The present petition is filed, under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (for brevity ‘IBC’ / ‘Code’), by M/s NTT Business Solutions Pvt. Ltd. formally known as (Intelligence India Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd.) through its Senior Manager-Legal and Company Secretary Mr. J.S. Kalyan Chakravarthy (for brevity ‘Operational Creditor’ / ‘Petitioner’), with a prayer to initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in case of M/s Trident Ltd. (for brevity ‘Corporate Debtor’ / ‘Respondent’).

2. The Corporate Debtor, namely, M/s Trident Ltd., is a Company incorporated on 18.04.1990 under the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 with CIN No. L99999PB1990PLC010307 with its registered office at Raipur Road, Barnala, Punjab India. Hence, the territorial jurisdiction lies with this Adjudicating Authority. Copy of master data of the corporate debtor is attached with the main petition and marked as Annexure-A.

3. The facts of the case, briefly, as stated in the petition are that the Operational Creditor is in the business of providing Software Solutions in SAP Consulting, Technology and Outsourcing Services. Corporate Debtor having used SAP products was desirous of implementing SAP S4 HANA Software or its higher version. Both parties entered into Agreement dated 27.01.2020 and a timeline of 14 months was given to complete the said work. Thereafter, invoices were raised. It was less than two months complete lockdown was imposed on account of Covid-19 and the Corporate Debtor put the project on hold stating that hardware could not be delivered. The hardware was received by Corporate Debtor in May 2020 however, there was difficulty in accessing the same due to restricted travels. Thereafter, Corporate Debtor changed its requirements. Several emails were exchanged between the parties wherein Corporate Debtor was showing to cooperate and admitting the lapses on its part. The Corporate Debtor has acknowledged/accepted and agreed to pay Rs. 3,81,13,654/- to the Operational Creditor. The invoices raised by Operational Creditor were duly accepted by Corporate Debtor stating that payment was under process and invoices would be paid. There is no dispute regarding work completed and invoices raised. The Operational Creditor stated that the non-release of payment is causing a huge cash crunch and difficulty in continuing with the project. Most of the work stands completed and the project is in the final stage. The Operational Creditor after several reminders sent an email stating that in case of failure to release payment, it shall not be in a position to continue with support which shall stand withdrawn w.e.f. 10.06.2021. The Operational Creditor sent a notice dated 11.06.2021 for clearing outstanding dues. An undated letter was received by Operational Creditor on 14.06.2021 prematurely and without authority under the Agreement decided to invoke arbitration. A meeting was held between the parties and certain terms and conditions were agreed for resuming the work, however, later on, the corporate debtor altered that payment shall be considered after 2 weeks. The Corporate Debtor email dated 18.06.2021 reverted, to which Operational Creditor replied that milestones worth Rs. 45-50 lakhs is pending. The operational Creditor gave a reply to the notice sent by Corporate Debtor invoking arbitration stating that there has been no dispute in respect of milestones completed or payments for invoices that were already agreed and acknowledged. The Corporate Debtor then invoked Bank Guarantee on 26.06.2021 alleging that there was a failure on the part of the Operational Creditor to perform the contract. The Operational Creditor has already filed a petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking interim relief in relation to the invocation of a bank guarantee which is pending for adjudication.

4. It is submitted by the petitioner in Form 5, Part IV that the amount claimed to