Insolvency plea permitted against Supreme Infrastructure BOT

After Supreme Infrastructure BOT failed to make loan repayments, SREI Infrastructure Finance filed a petition with the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to start a corporate insolvency resolution procedure (CIRP) against the company. The petition was accepted. Supreme Infrastructure BOT was the recipient of a Rs 1.50 billion five-year term loan from SREI Infrastructure Finance. The loan was meant to be used for initiatives related to infrastructure. A number of security documents were then signed by the parties involved. But in August 2018, the borrower's noncompliance with loan repayments forced the financial creditor to return the loan.

In their representation of SREI Infrastructure, attorneys Rohit Gupta and Ativ Patel of AVP Partners contended that Supreme Infrastructure India Ltd. (SIIL), not the borrower, was the intended beneficiary of the intercreditor agreement (ICA) from June 2019. Furthermore, the ICA was only good for 180 days, yet throughout that time, no agreement was made.

According to the requirements of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, the borrower had argued that the financial creditor is going through an insolvency procedure of its own. As a result, the lender's account has been deemed fake, and as a result, it is no longer permitted to pursue the bankruptcy claim against Supreme Infrastructure BOT.

The tribunal made it clear that even while they were subject to CIRP, the financial creditor was still able to file and prosecute claims against the corporate debtor.

Further, it rejected the corporate debtor's plea that the existence of an arbitration clause in the loan agreement should bar the financial creditor from approaching the tribunal, citing the Supreme Court's precedent in an earlier matter.

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