News: Piramal Capital's plea against Radius insolvency withdrawal allowed-29-03-2022
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), led by Justice Suchitra Kanuparthi and technical member Anuradha Bhatia, in an oral pronouncement disallowed the withdrawal of the realtor's insolvency resolution process.
A dedicated bankruptcy court on Monday allowed an application filed by Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Ltd (PCHFL) that had opposed the withdrawal of insolvency resolution against Mumbai-based real estate developer Radius Estate Projects.
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), led by Justice Suchitra Kanuparthi and technical member Anuradha Bhatia, in an oral pronouncement disallowed the withdrawal of the realtor's insolvency resolution process.
The development will pave the way for the resolution professional (RP) to constitute the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and take the insolvency resolution process further.
In this case, Radius Estate Projects was admitted to the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) on September 6, 2021, in a petition filed by SBICAP Trustee Company, on behalf of its debenture holders, for default of more than ₹23 crore. However, the company's promoter, Anil Chhabria, had approached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), seeking a stay on the constitution of the CoC, arguing that Radius was settling the matter with the debenture holders.
Later, on November 23, the appellate tribunal issued an order directing the promoter to settle the debts within 30 days. If that failed, the resolution professional was free to form the CoC, in accordance with the law. Subsequently, the resolution professional of the company filed an application for the withdrawal of the insolvency petition as the promoters settled their dues with the debenture holders.
Opposing this withdrawal petition, Senior Advocate Gaurav Joshi, along with counsel Nausher Kohli, appearing for the Piramal Capital & Housing, argued that the developer owes more than ₹2,444 crore to its lenders while SBICAP Trustee supporting the withdrawal of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) initiated against the builder has a claim of only ₹32 crore, which is meagre of 1.22% of the total admitted claims.
ET's mailed queries to Piramal Capital & Housing Finance and Radius Developers remained unanswered. Piramal Capital & Housing's admitted claim is about ₹1,573 crore. This loan was originated by DHFL and, following its recent acquisition, it has come under PCHFL's portfolio.
While so far, the counsel for the suspended board of the company had argued that PCHFL was aware of all the developments and that even if the tribunal allowed withdrawal of this petition, PCHFL's rights would not be prejudiced since it could file a separate petition.
