Appeal filed under I&B Code by ‘suspended’ Board of Directors—held not maintainable: NCLAT

National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT): A two-member bench comprising of Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya and Balvinder Singh, Member (Technical) restored the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process as initiated against the appellant – Corporate Debtor.

Brief facts of the case are that the respondent Bank preferred applications under Section 9 of the I&B Code against the appellant which were admitted by the National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi. The said decision was challenged by the appellant before the Appellate Tribunal whereby the order of admission was dismissed. Thereafter, against the decision of the Appellate Tribunal, the respondent filed an appeal in the Supreme Court. The Court remitted the matter back to the Appellate Tribunal for reconsideration, pursuant to which instant proceedings were held.

The Appellate Tribunal, while reconsidering the matter, took note of the fact that the appeals were filed by the suspended Board of Directors. Reliance was placed on Innoventive Industries Ltd. v. ICICI Ltd., (2018) 1 SCC 407 to hold that an appeal filed under I&B Code by Corporate Debtor through suspended Board of Directors is not maintainable. That apart, it was reiterated that in view of the substantive provisions of the Code, it was always open to the respondent to file applications under Section 9 in case of debt or a default. Resultantly, the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process initiated against the appellant was restored. The NCLT was directed to proceed with the matter in accordance with law. [Shilpi Cable Technologies Ltd. v. Macquarie Bank Ltd.,2018 SCC OnLine NCLAT 383, dated 08-08-2018]