Pre-existing dispute defeats insolvency petition where prior correspondence and billing objections showed disagreement before statutory notice.

An insolvency petition under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 was held not maintainable where the record showed a pre-existing dispute between the operational creditor and the corporate debtor before the statutory demand notice. Correspondence, WhatsApp messages and e-mails exchanged earlier reflected disagreement over the rates charged and allegations of excess billing, and the corporate debtor also raised objections in reply to the demand notice. On these facts, the dispute was found to have existed before service of the Section 8 notice, so the petition failed on maintainability.

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Issues: Whether the insolvency petition was maintainable in view of a pre-existing dispute between the operational creditor and the corporate debtor.

Analysis: The record showed correspondence, WhatsApp communications, and e-mails exchanged before service of the statutory demand notice, which indicated dispute regarding the rates charged and allegations of excess billing. The corporate debtor had also raised objections in its reply to the demand notice, and the dispute was found to have existed prior to issuance of the notice under Section 8 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Conclusion: The petition was not maintainable because a pre-existing dispute was established before the statutory notice was issued.

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