Therefore, “the very foundation of issuing of letter dated 12.09.2023, rejecting the declare of IFIN is knocked out”, stated a two-member bench of the NCLAT which additionally consisted of Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member (Technical) Barun Mitra.
“The letter dated 12.09.2023, issued by IRP is put aside. The declare of IFIN as admitted within the CIRP and voting share of 39.14% is restored within the CIRP of Attivo Financial Zone (Mumbai) Pvt. Ltd,” stated NCLAT
IFIN had filed a declare of about Rs 593 crore and the IRP of Attivo Financial Zone admitted it and allotted share of 39.14 per cent within the lenders’ physique Committee of Collectors (CoC).
Nevertheless, on September 12, 2023, IRP issued a letter rejecting IFIN’s declare as a monetary creditor of the Attivo Financial Zone. After rejection, SIFL grew to become the only real member of the CoC with 100 per cent votes and likewise handed the decision for liquidation. This was challenged by IFIN, a 100 per cent subsidiary of Infrastructure Leasing and Monetary Companies Restricted (IL&FS), earlier than NCLAT. In his reply, IRP stated that IFIN’s declare has been rejected based mostly on the pleadings made by the IL&FS itself in one other petition, the place the IL&FS itself has pleaded that the transaction with Attivo was circuitous.
IFIN had disbursed Rs 305 crore to Attivo by means of two time period mortgage agreements in 2017 and 2018, and the borrower defaulted on compensation.
Following this, IFIN had moved a plea to provoke insolvency proceedings towards Attivo earlier than the Kolkata bench of the Nationwide Firm Legislation Tribunal (NCLT), which on June 9, 2023, admitted it and appointed an IRP suspending the board.
Within the first CoC assembly on July 7, 2023, the place the conversion of the IRP to RP was put to vote, IFIN voted towards it, failing to get a majority vote in its favour.
In the mean time, to discover a resolution to the assorted complexities arising out of the mortgage transactions undertaken by IFIN and a few third-party debtors together with Attivo, the newly appointed board of IL&FS shaped after the disaster took a call to break down (unwind) such transactions.
In pursuance of the identical, IL&FS approached NCLAT with an software searching for approval to break down sure transactions entered into by IFIN, together with the transaction with Attivo and take vital actions together with vital accounting entries within the books of the events.
Contemplating that the result of the collapsing software would have a cloth affect on the CIRP of Attivo, IFIN vide letter dated August 17, 2023, inter alia knowledgeable the IRP in regards to the stated software and requested it to maintain voting within the CoC in abeyance until such time it’s adjudicated upon.
Nevertheless, based mostly on the collapsing software, IRP rejected IFIN’s declare and ousted it from the CoC.