Project-specific homebuyer threshold under insolvency law cannot be met by combining allottees from separately registered township projects.

Under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the terms "allottee" and "real estate project" take their meaning from the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, and the Section 7 threshold must be satisfied project-wise by allottees of the same real estate project. Where the record showed multiple separately registered projects within a township, with distinct sanctioned plans and RERA registrations, allottees from different projects could not be aggregated to meet the second proviso to Section 7(1). On that basis, the Section 7 application was not maintainable as filed, and dismissal of the insolvency petition was upheld.

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Issues: Whether the Section 7 application by allottees from different sub-projects of the township satisfied the statutory threshold and whether the township could be treated as a single real estate project for the purpose of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

Analysis: The expressions "allottee" and "real estate project" under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 are controlled by their meanings under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. The threshold under the second proviso to Section 7(1) is project-specific and must be tested with reference to allottees of the same real estate project. The material on record showed multiple separately registered projects within the township, with distinct categories, sanctioned plans, and RERA registrations. The documents relied upon by the appellants did not establish that the entire township constituted one project for the purpose of the proviso, nor that the applicants formed the requisite critical mass for any particular registered project.

Conclusion: The Section 7 application was not maintainable as filed, and the dismissal of the insolvency petition was upheld.

Ratio Decidendi: For triggering corporate insolvency by homebuyers, the statutory threshold must be satisfied by allottees belonging to the same real estate project, and where the record shows separate registered projects within a township, allottees from different projects cannot be aggregated to meet that threshold.

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