The NCLT Chandigarh recently clarified that the claim of an allottee cannot be rejected solely on the ground of being a speculative investor, and an allottee does not cease to be a financial creditor merely because they qualify as a speculative investor. The Adjudicating Authority, therefore, rejected the application filed under section 60(5) read with section 21 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), seeking to exclude the Respondents from the Committee of Creditors (CoC) on the ground that they are not financial creditors/ home buyers or allottees but business/services providers and speculative investors.
On the issue of exclusion of certain respondents from the CoC on the ground that their claims were not reflected in the balance sheet of the Corporate Debtor (CD), the Division Bench comprising Harnam Singh Thakur (Judicial Member) and Shishir Agarwal (Technical Member) observed that the balance sheet is not the sole determinant for admission of the claim. Referring to the decision of the NCLAT in the case of Everlike Real Estate & Developers Pvt Ltd. vs Mohit Goyal, CA(RP) (2024) ibclaw.in 429 NCLAT, the Authority observed that although speculative Investors are prohibited from initiating the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), their claims can be admitted as financial creditors in a class.
The NCLT further observed that the Applicant has not tendered any reply to the Respondent’s submission, where it was contended that the Respondents ceased to be related parties before the initiation of the CIRP. Further, on the contention of the Applicant that striking off the Respondents under section 248 of the Companies Act would lead to the denial of their claims, the Adjudicating Authority concluded that Section 250 of the Companies Act allows the creditors to recover dues and seek discharge of liabilities even if the company is struck off.
Appearances:
Advocate Naman Singhal, for the Applicant
Advocate Atul V. Sood, for Respondent No. 1 (RP)
Advocates Surjit Bhadu and Saniya Thakur, for Respondents No. 2 & 3