IN THE NATIONAL COMPANY LAW TRIBUNAL,

MUMBAI BENCH, COURT – II

IA/677/2020

&

C.P.(IB)-4541(MB)/2019

(Under Section 7 of the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Code, 2016 read with Rule 4 of the

Insolvency and Bankruptcy (Application to

Adjudication Authority) Rule 2016.)

In the matter of

Canara Bank

Having Registered Office at: 112, JC Road

Bangalore.

Branch: 1^st Floor, A Wing, Canara Bank

Building C-14, ‘G’ Block, Bandra-Kurla

Complex,

Bandra

(East),

Mumbai,

Maharashtra- 400051.

……Financial Creditor/Applicant

Vs

GTL Infrastructure Limited

Having Registered Office at: 3^rd Floor, Global

Vision Electronic Sadan No. II MIDC, TTC,

Industrial Area, Mahape Navi Mumbai,

Maharashtra -400710.

..…..Corporate Debtor/Respondent

Order delivered on: 18.11.2022

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Coram:

Hon’ble Member (Judicial) : Justice P.N. Deshmukh (Retd.)

Hon’ble Member (Technical) : Shri Shyam Babu Gautam

Appearances:

For the Financial Creditor : Counsel, Mr. Rohit Gupta

For the Corporate Debtor : Senior Counsel, Mr. Vikram Nankani

Counsel, Mr. Rohan Rajadhyaksha

ORDER

Per- Justice P.N. Deshmukh (Retd.), Member Judicial

1. The present Company Petition (IB)-4541(MB)/2019 is

filed under Section 7 of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016

(for brevity ‘IBC, 2016’) read with Rule 4 of the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy (Application to Adjudicating Authority) Rules, 2016

(for brevity ‘the Rules’) on 06.12.2019, by Canara Bank (for brevity

‘Financial Creditor’) through its Authorised Person, Mr. Amrit

Ghosh, who has been duly authorised vide Power of Attorney

dated 01.06.1999 for initiating Corporate Insolvency Resolution

Process (CIRP) against GTL Infrastructure Limited (for brevity

‘Corporate Debtor’) for default in repaying an amount of

₹646,38,06,271.00 (Indian Rupees Six Hundred Forty Six Crores

Thirty Eight Lakhs Six Thousand Two Hundred Seventy One

only), as on 01.07.2011.

Simultaneously, the Respondent filed IA/677/2020 on

21.02.2020, seeking to dismiss the CP(IB)/4541(MB)/2019 for

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lack of authorisation in favour of the authorised signatory of the

Petitioner.

2. On

perusal

of

the

IA/677/2020

and

CP(IB)-

4541(MB)/2019, it reveals that the amount outstanding pertains

to loans sanctioned and disbursed to two entities namely GTL

Infrastructure Limited and Chennai Network Infrastructure

Limited. Further, by way of a scheme of amalgamation sanctioned

by this Tribunal on 22.12.2017, Chennai Network Infrastructure

Limited was merged into GTL Infrastructure Limited and all its

debts, liabilities and obligations are now transferred to the

Corporate Debtor. Further, the Corporate Debtor failed to pay the

dues. The Lenders of the Corporate Debtor decided to refer the

debt of Corporate Debtor to the CDR Cell for Corporate Debt

Restructuring (CDR) in 2011. During CDR, the Corporate Debtor

repaid INR 6,469 crores to the Lenders but on account of

continuing adverse circumstances in the telecom industry, the

debt of the Corporate Debtor remained unsustainable. In these

circumstances, the Lenders of the Corporate Debtor in Joint

Lender’s meeting (held on 20.09.2016) decided to implement

Strategic Debt Restructuring (SDR) in respect of the Corporate

Debtor. Under the SDR, the debt of the Corporate Debtor and

CNIL was converted into equity to the extent of approximately INR

4,500 Crores. As per the conversion, the lenders of Corporate

Debtor hold 63.16% equity shareholding in the Corporate Debtor.

In terms of clause 3(xiii) of the SDR Guidelines, the lenders were

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required to find a new investor to transfer their respective

shareholdings and control in the Corporate Debtor. However,

while the sale process was underway, there was a significant loss

in tenancies due to