National Company Law Appellate Tribunal: A two-member bench comprising of S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Bansi Lal Bhat, J., dismissed a company appeal filed against the order of the National Company Law Tribunal which dismissed the appellant’s application filed under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016, for initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.
The appellant (operational creditor) cited a long list of cases to substantiate its application. The question before the Tribunal was whether an application under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code 2016 was maintainable even when the winding up proceedings against the corporate debtor had already been initiated. It was an admitted fact that the Bombay High Court had already ordered the winding of the corporate debtor. Referring to various judgments, the Tribunal, held that an application for initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process was not maintainable. The Tribunal observed that winding up order is the second stage and corporate insolvency resolution process is the first. Therefore, the order for initiation of the first stage cannot be passed after order directing the compliance of the second stage had already been issued. As a result, the Tribunal dismissed the company appeal preferred by the appellant. [Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. v. Sree Ram Urban Infrastructure Ltd., 2018 SCC OnLine NCLAT 282, order dated 30-05-2018]
