Pre-existing dispute bars Section 9 insolvency admission where contract performance and NOC obligations were genuinely contested.

Under insolvency law, a Section 9 application is not maintainable where a plausible, evidence-backed pre-existing dispute existed before the demand notice. Here, the contractual arrangement required the operational creditor to furnish a no objection certificate for copyright registration of the TVC, and pre-notice correspondence showed repeated requests by the corporate debtor and a denial in response. Applying the settled admission-stage test, the dispute did not need final adjudication; it was enough that the NOC issue was real, genuine, and not spurious or illusory. The application was therefore rejected.

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Issues: Whether the operational creditor's Section 9 insolvency application was liable to be rejected for the existence of a pre-existing dispute concerning the contractual obligation to furnish a no objection certificate for copyright registration of the TVC.

Analysis: The operative arrangement required the operational creditor to provide the NOC for IP registration, and the correspondence exchanged before the demand notice showed repeated requests by the corporate debtor and a denial in response. Applying the settled test for pre-existing dispute, the dispute need only be plausible and supported by evidence; it need not be finally adjudicated at the admission stage. The record showed that the NOC issue arose well before the Section 8 notice, and the corporate debtor's stand that the TVC could not be used or registered without the NOC was not effectively rebutted.

Conclusion: The dispute was real, genuine, and pre-existing, so the Section 9 application was not maintainable.

Ratio Decidendi: A Section 9 application must be rejected where, before the demand notice, there exists a plausible and evidence-backed dispute between the parties that is not spurious, feeble, or illusory.

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