2021 (8) TMI 1286

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....nkaranarayanan And Mr.C.Deepak Kumar For Respondents: Mr.G.Baskaran CGSC, Mr.P.S.Raman, Senior Counsel, Mrs.M.Savitha, Mr.P.H.Arvindh Pandian, Senior Counsel, Mr.Avinash Krishnan, Ravi, Mr.V.Lakshmi Narayanan, M/s.N.V.Prakash, Mr.M.L.Ganesh ORDER Hon'ble Chief Justice The petition under Article 226 of the Constitution is directed not so much against the merits of the order dated January 12, 2021, as it is to question the jurisdiction exercised by the National Company Law Tribunal (for short, 'NCLT') in entertaining the application on which the order was passed. 2. The matter pertains to the corporate insolvency proceedings in respect of Empee Distilleries Limited, the 12th respondent herein. The creditors of such corporat....

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....ce application pertaining to a share transaction between the fourth respondent herein, South (India) Hotels Private Limited, and the 16th respondent herein, Goodyield Investments Private Limited, was filed by the resolution professional prior to the resolution plan being accepted. However, the avoidance application does not appear to have been pursued and the petitioner claims that like a pending interlocutory application in a civil suit which has been finally disposed of, the avoidance application must be regarded to have died its natural death upon the resolution plan being accepted by the NCLT and the same now having attained finality up to the Supreme Court level. 5. The transaction in question pertains to the shares held by Empee Di....

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....150 crore, though the factory of the petitioner herein has remained closed for the last three years and the petitioner herein is the corporate debtor in unconnected insolvency proceedings instituted against it in Bengaluru. 7. So much for facts; only for the purpose of appreciating the legal issue involved. The question of jurisdiction that the petitioner raises is the authority of the NCLT to continue with the avoidance application despite the resolution plan already being in place. In other words, the petitioner suggests that since the transaction has not been avoided by an order of a competent authority prior to the resolution plan being accepted, the transaction is deemed to have gone through and it may not be assailed in the already....

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....tion, whichever is later, there will be no further transaction in the shares pertaining to the petitioner herein. Further, no fixed asset of the petitioner should be alienated or encumbered without the express previous leave of the NCLT, Chennai, and no other asset or stock in trade or the like may be dealt with or disposed of or alienated or encumbered or any third party right created in respect thereof, except in the usual or ordinary course of business. Here again, it is recorded that according to the successful resolution applicant, the factory of the petitioner remains closed for three years with little prospect of reopening in the immediate future. 11. The observations made herein are for the limited purpose of indicating the natur....