Operational debt threshold under insolvency law must be met by the corporate debtor alone; separate entity dues cannot be clubbed.

A section 9 insolvency petition is maintainable only where the operational debt attributable to the corporate debtor independently meets the statutory pecuniary threshold under section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. Amounts due to a separate proprietorship concern cannot be clubbed with the corporate debtor's liability to satisfy that threshold. On the material considered, the invoices and ledger entries showed that most of the claim related to the proprietorship, while the corporate debtor's own liability remained below the prescribed limit. The absence of a pre-existing dispute did not cure the deficiency. The petition was therefore not maintainable.

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Issues: Whether the section 9 petition was maintainable when the invoices issued in the name of the corporate debtor were below the statutory minimum threshold and the appellant sought to aggregate dues relating to a separate proprietorship concern.

Analysis: The invoices and ledger entries showed that the bulk of the claimed amount pertained to A.G. Pipes, a sole proprietorship concern, while only a much smaller portion was attributable to A.G. Pipes Private Limited. The two concerns were separate legal entities and their liabilities could not be combined to satisfy the threshold under section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. On the material placed, the amount attributable to the corporate debtor remained below the one crore limit, and the alleged absence of pre-existing dispute did not cure the defect in maintainability.

Conclusion: The petition was not maintainable because the operational debt due from the corporate debtor did not cross the statutory threshold, and the appeal therefore failed.

Ratio Decidendi: For a section 9 proceeding, the operational debt attributable to the corporate debtor must independently satisfy the pecuniary threshold under section 4 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, and liabilities of a separate legal entity cannot be clubbed to meet that threshold.

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