TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2020 (8) TMI 609
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....ing Authority (National Company Law Tribunal) special Bench, Chennai, by order dated 05.07.2019 admitted the Application. The Appellant promotor and Shareholder of Respondent No. 3 has filed this Appeal under Section 61(1) of I&B Code, against the impugned order dated 05.07.2019. 2. In this Appeal, Financial Creditor is Respondent No. 1, IRP is Respondent No. 2, Corporate Debtor is Respondent No. 3, during the pendency of Appeal we have permitted to implead Shriram City Union Finance Limited as Respondent No. 4 because Respondent No. 4's Application under Section 7 of I&B Code, has been disposed of by the Adjudicating Authority Chennai, in the light of impugned order, with the direction to file the claim before the IRP i.e. Respondent No. 2. 3. Brief facts of this case are that at the request of Corporate Debtor, Financial Creditor i.e. Indian Overseas Bank granted financial assistance at various dates between 13.06.2011 to 29.052015 and the Corporate Debtor disbursed the loan. The Corporate Debtor Respondent No. 3 defaulted in payment of loan, therefore, on 01.04.2015 Corporate Debtor was declared as a Non Performing Asset (In short NPA). Subsequently, The Financial Creditor had....
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....ect date of NPA is not cleared by the Financial Creditor. In both cases either NPA date is 01.04.2015 or 30.06.2015 the debt is time barred as the application under Section 7 of I&B Code, is filed on 15.03.2019. 6. Learned counsel for the Appellant contended that as per Item No. 2 part IV of the Application, term loan of 15 crores disbursed on 29.05.2015. Whereas, the Corporate Debtor's account was declared NPA on 01.04.2015 this itself shows that the NPA date 01.04.2015 is not correct. 7. Learned Counsel for the Appellant contended that the Adjudicating Authority had relied on a letter dated 27.03.2017 as an acknowledgement of debt by the Corporate Debtor, which only states that the Corporate Debtor will settle issue with the Financial Creditor and there is no specific acknowledgement of Debt. The Adjudicating Authority has failed to understand that for the purpose of acknowledgement of debt it has to be specifically, admitted and clearly stated as the exact amount of debt due and the timeline for payment. The Adjudicating Authority had also relied on a letter dated 13.04.2017 which is not in existence as no such letter has been annexed with the Application. Hon'ble Delhi High C....
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.... 3 is the Corporate Debtor Company they are the Performa Respondents and they have not make any submissions. 11. The Respondent No. 4 submitted that the Corporate Debtor had borrowed a sum of Rs. 11 Crores from Respondent No. 4, in order to clear the amount due to M/s Shriram Housing Finance Limited. The Corporate Debtor failed to repay the amount, hence, the Respondent No. 4 filed an Application under Section 7 of I&B Code, (Company Petition No. 1239/IBC/CB/2018) before the Adjudicating Authority Chennai, in the month of November, 2018. In the light of the impugned order dated 05.07.2019 the Adjudicating Authority Chennai, has disposed of the Company Petition filed by Respondent No. 4 with a direction to file a claim before the IRP. i.e. Respondent No. 2. In this context, the Respondent No. 4 supports the impugned order. 12. After hearing Learned Counsel for the parties we have gone the through the record. 13. It is admitted fact that Financial Creditor granted Financial Assistance to Corporate Debtor as term loan of different amount at different dates as mentioned in serial No. 1 Part IV of the Application under Section 7 of I&B Code, and in serial No. 2 part IV of the Applica....
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....not create a new right of action. It is a mere acknowledgment of the liability in respect of the right in question; it need not be accompanied by a promise to pay either expressly or even by implication. The statement on which a plea of acknowledgment is based must relate to a present subsisting liability though the exact nature or the specific character of the said liability may not be indicated in words. Words used in the acknowledgment must, however, indicate the existence of jural relationship between the parties such as that of debtor and creditor, and it must appear that the statement is made with the intention to admit such jural relationship. Such intention can be inferred by implication from the nature of the admission, and need not be expressed in words. If the statement is fairly clear then the intention to admit jural relationship may be implied from it. The admission in question need not be express but must be made in circumstances and in words from which the court can reasonably infer that the person making the admission intended to refer to a subsisting liability as at the date of the statement. ... Stated generally courts lean in favour of a liberal construction of ....
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....ment is based must relate to a person subsisting liability though the exact nature or the specific character of the said liability may not be indicated in words. 16. we will now examine this case with reference to the said principal. In this Case Respondent for the purpose of acknowledgement placed reliance on the reply to demand notice dated 27.03.2017, the One Time Settlement Proposal dated 13.04.2017 and subsequent correspondence between the Appellant and Respondent. 17. In reply to demand notice dated 27.03.2017 the Appellant has admitted the subsisting Jural relationship between the parties and a conscious affirmation of an intention of continuing such relationship in regard to an existing liability. The Financial Creditor in demand notice dated 15.03.2017 called upon the Corporate Debtor to pay sum of Rs. 21,86,26,661/- along with further interest till date of payment. The Corporate Debtor in his reply to the notice did not dispute the amount and admitted the liability and stated that they are in process of settling the dues of Financial Creditor. It is also mentioned in the reply that they have visited number of times to the officials of Financial Creditor. The reply to th....