Ashok Bhushan#Barun Mitra#20NL1000MiscellaneousMANUTRIBUNALSAdjudicating Authority#Admission#Agreement#Allegation#Appeal#Appellate Tribunal#Application#Authority#Balance Sheet#Bona Fide#Case#Charge#Civil Court#Civil Suit#Claim#Collusion#Company#Contest#Creditor#Data#Date#Debt#Debtor#Default#Due#Ends of Justice#Evidence#Exchange#Executed#Financial Statement#Financial Year#Finding#Forged#Fund#Hearing#Information#Insolvency#Instalment#Interest#Jural Relationship#Loan#Loans#Master#Member#National#New#Office#Onus#Order#Parties#Pass#Petition#Proceeding#Proceedings#Record#Recovery#Reference#Registrar#Relationship#Resolution#Revenue#Sanction#Security#Service#Set Aside#Setting Aside#Signature#Statement#Suit#Summary Proceeding#Tribunal2023-5-29 -->

MANU/NL/0496/2023

IN THE NATIONAL COMPANY LAW APPELLATE TRIBUNAL, NEW DELHI

Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 988 of 2022

Decided On: 24.05.2023

Appellants: Dhani Loans and Services Ltd. Vs. Respondent: Champa Impex Pvt. Ltd.

Hon'ble Judges/Coram:
Ashok Bhushan, J. (Chairperson) and Barun Mitra

ORDER

1. Heard learned Counsel for the parties.

2. This appeal has been filed against the order dated 25.05.2022 passed by Adjudicating Authority (NCLT Kolkata) by which order Section 7 Application filed by the Appellant has been rejected. Appellant filed Section 7 Application claiming to be Financial Creditor and the case of the Appellant is that Appellant entered into a loan agreement dated 05.02.2018 for a loan of Rs. 30 lakhs. The loan was repayable by 24 equal instalments. Most important documents were exchanged between the parties and EMIs of Rs. 1,55,226/-was fixed with monthly instalment having interest. Loan was disbursed on 06.02.2018. Corporate Debtor also paid certain interest and EMIs. On default, Section 7 Application was filed.

3. Corporate Debtor appearing before the Adjudicating Authority contested the Application. Adjudicating Authority, after hearing both the parties, by impugned order has rejected Section 7 Application. The entire reasoning and allegation of the Adjudicating Authority are at paragraphs 33 to 38 which are extracted for ready reference.

"33. The Corporate Debtor has claimed that the signatures on the loan agreement are forged, and that no loan application was made by it Accordingly, a civil suit being TS No. 1151/2019 has been filed by the Corporate Debtor against the Financial Creditor before the City Civil Court at Calcutta

34. On perusal of record, it is apparent that a loan agreement dated 05 February 2018 was executed between the parties and that subsequently. a loan was sanctioned by the Financial Creditor. However, the fact that no security has been furnished by the Corporate Debtor regarding the same further adds to doubtfulness regarding the genuineness of the loan agreement.

35. In a section 7 petition, it is of utmost importance that the Adjudicating Authority is fully satisfied before admission of a petition. Therefore, we called for the financial statements of the Corporate Debtor for the financial years 2017-18 and 2018-19 from the office of the Registrar of Companies, West Bengal, Kolkata.

36. The balance sheets revealed several interesting facets. The financial statements in question reveal that the Corporate Debtor was perfectly able to raise the requisite funds internally. The Corporate Debtor has generated significant revenues in both financial years. As such, the Corporate Debtor is very much solvent and capable of re-paying the alleged debt if it becomes due. Admitting the Corporate Debtor into CIRP will defeat the purpose of the Code which is resolution of the insolvency of the Corporate Debtor and not recovery of the debt due to the Financial Creditor.

37. Further, a perusal of the master data of the Corporate Debtor reveals that there are several charges open against the Corporate Debtor. Considering these circumstances, a possibility of collusion between the parties cannot be ruled out.

38. The reliability of the document establishing the jural relationship between the parties itself is in question and as such........