National Company Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT): A Bench of Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya (Chairperson); Justice A.I.S Cheema, Member (Judicial) and Kanthi Narahari, Member (Technical) dismissed an appeal filed by the appellant-Director of Corporate Debtor against the order of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (New Delhi) whereby it had admitted the application filed by the Financial Creditor under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 for initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process against the Corporate Debtor.
The appellant was represented by Rakesh Kumar, Ashish Khattar, Shivali Singh and Chetna Bisht, Advocates. Among other things, one of the prime contentions raised was regarding lack of jurisdiction of the NCLT, New Delhi to deal with the present matter. It was contended that the properties of the Corporate Debtor were situated in the State of U.P. and therefore the proper forum was NCLT, Allahabad.
The Financial Creditor (Oriental Bank of Commerce) was represented by Amandeep Singh and Niti Jain, Advocates.
Perusing the record, the Appellate Tribunal found that the Registered Office of the Corporate Debtor was shown to be situated at New Delhi. Referring to Section 60 IBC (adjudicating authority for corporate persons), it was observed: “Registered Office of the ‘Corporate Debtor’ being situated at “New Delhi”, we hold in terms of Section 60(1) the ‘National Company Law Tribunal, New Delhi’ has jurisdiction and not the ‘National Company Law Tribunal, Allahabad’ where properties of the ‘Corporate Debtor’ may be situated.”
Accordingly, the Appellate Tribunal rejected the appellant’s contention regarding maintainability of the Section 7 application before the NCLT, New Delhi. Similarly, the other contentions raised by the appellant were also rejected.
As a result, the company appeal filed by the appellant was dismissed. [Naresh Kumar Sharma v. Oriental Bank of Commerce, Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 628 of 2018, decided on 18-09-2019]
