In a major relief for Rasna, the
Gujarat High Court on Monday stayed the NCLT order directing the initiation of
insolvency proceedings against the homegrown beverage brand.
Last week, the Ahmedabad bench
of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) directed initiation of the
Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against Rasna over a default of
Rs 71.27 lakh and had appointed an interim resolution professional suspending
the board.
The National Company Law
Tribunal (NCLT) order was challenged by the promoters of Rasna Industries
before the high court, which stayed the verdict till an appeal filed against it
before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal is listed.
"Considering the aforesaid,
by way of ad-interim relief, the said order dated 01.09.2023 is directed not to
be acted upon till the statutory appeal which is filed before the NCLAT is
listed for hearing in the peculiar facts of the present case," an order
passed by Justice V D Nanavati stated on Monday.
NCLT had passed the order on the
petition filed by one of its operational creditors Bharat Road Carriers,
claiming a default of Rs 71.27 lakh and had appointed Ravindra Kumar Goyal as
Interim Resolution Professional (IRP).
A statement from Rasna Group
Legal Team said, "Considering the overall facts and circumstances of the
case, the High Court of Gujarat was pleased to entertain the petition filed by
Rasna challenging the order of NCLT."
"The Order of the NCLT passed on Friday i.e., 01.09.2023 has been stayed
in the first hearing held today, i.e. 04.09.2023 in the High Court," it
said.
Bharat Road carriers had claimed
operational debt of Rs 71.27 lakh plus interest on service tax and interest on
unpaid amounts as of March 31, 2019. It had transported various goods to Rasna,
for which it had raised various invoices during the period from April 2017 to
August 2018.
Rasna admitted that they had
availed transportation services from the transporter but stated that there were
pre-existing disputes between the parties.
In November 2018, Bharat Road
carriers instituted a civil suit for damages amounting to Rs 1.25 crore before
the commercial court in Ahmedabad, which was referred for mediation.
However, during the mediation
process, the operational creditor did not appear before the mediator and,
hence, it failed.
NCLT said Rasna has failed to
provide reasons for the dispute to the operational creditor.
"In our view, the arguments
so as to the dispute appear to be moonshine. As such the applicant has proved
that there is a default and the amount in default is more than Rs 1 lakh,"
NCLT said.
"Under the said
circumstances, this tribunal is left with no other option than to proceed with
the present case and initiate the CIRP in relation to the corporate debtor.