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Issues: (i) Whether the amount paid as advance licence fee for proposed operational and management services constituted operational debt; (ii) Whether there was any pre-existing dispute defeating maintainability of the section 9 application; (iii) Whether the requirements for admission of the application and commencement of CIRP were satisfied.
Issue (i): Whether the amount paid as advance licence fee for proposed operational and management services constituted operational debt.
Analysis: The amount of Rs. 32,43,000/- was paid by the applicant towards advance licence fee for running long-stay accommodation and related services. The Tribunal treated the transaction as one for provision of services and relied on the principle that advance payments made in furtherance of a services contract can fall within the ambit of operational debt. The fact that the respondent had received and retained the amount supported the character of the claim as a debt arising from services.
Conclusion: The amount constituted operational debt and the applicant was an operational creditor.
Issue (ii): Whether there was any pre-existing dispute defeating maintainability of the section 9 application.
Analysis: The respondent relied on a notice under the Negotiable Instruments Act and other assertions to suggest dispute. The Tribunal held that such notice did not amount to a dispute concerning the operational debt for the purpose of section 9. It further found that no effective notice of dispute was received within the statutory period and that the application was not defeated on the ground of pre-existing dispute.
Conclusion: No pre-existing dispute sufficient to bar admission was established.
Issue (iii): Whether the requirements for admission of the application and commencement of CIRP were satisfied.
Analysis: The Tribunal found the application to be complete, the unpaid operational debt to be due and unpaid, the demand notice to have been duly delivered, and no valid notice of dispute to have been received. Having found the statutory conditions under section 9 satisfied, it admitted the petition and ordered moratorium and appointment of an interim resolution professional.
Conclusion: The section 9 application was admitted and CIRP was directed to commence.
Final Conclusion: The petition succeeded, the debtor was brought into corporate insolvency resolution, and moratorium-related consequences followed.
Ratio Decidendi: An advance payment made towards services to be rendered under an operative commercial arrangement can constitute operational debt under the Code, and a mere assertion of dispute not shown as a genuine pre-existing dispute does not bar admission under section 9 where the statutory requirements are otherwise satisfied.
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