National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT): The Bench comprising of Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya (Chairperson) and Justice Venugopal M., Member (Judicial) and Justice Jarat Kumar Jain, Member (Judicial), disposed of the present appeal and remitted the matter back to NCLT, New Delhi with the following view:
“Matter is remitted back to NCLT, New Delhi should be heard by Divisional Bench of Hon’ble Member (Judicial) and Hon’ble Member (Technical) as per the provisions of the Act..”
The present application was filed under Section 7 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016 by Vistra ITCL (India) Ltd. against ‘Ambience (P) Ltd.’ for the initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process.
The Division Bench comprising of one Member (Judicial) and Member (Technical) of NCLT, heard the application on 26-11-2018 and passed different orders.
Further, it has been stated that the appeal was admitted by Member (Judicial) on 27-08-2019 and in the meantime Member (Technical) retired in 19-07-2019.
In the present application order of ‘admission’ is challenged on the ground that the matter was heard by two Members and the final order was passed by one Member (Judicial).
Senior Counsel, Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appeared on behalf of the appellant and referred to Section 419(3) of the Companies Act and Rule 152 (4) of the NCLT Rules, 2016. Senior Counsel, Arun Kathpalia, who appeared on behalf of ‘Vistra ITCL (India)Ltd.’ accepted the aforesaid fact.
Conclusion
Tribunal on noting the facts and circumstances of the case stated that the matter may be remitted back for a fresh hearing on merit relating to admission of the application under Section 7 of the I&B Code.
Adding to the above, the tribunal set aside the impugned order passed by Single Member (Judicial) on 27-08-2019 without extending any opinion on the merit of the claim and counterclaim of the parties.
Both the parties ordered to appear before the President of NCLT on 06-11-2019.
In view of the above, present appeal stands disposed of and remitted with the aforesaid observations and directions. [Raj Singh Gehlot v. Vistra ITCL (India) Ltd., 2019 SCC OnLine NCLAT 760, decided on 25-10-2019]