Bank of Baroda Vs Sintex Industries Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. (NCLT Ahmedabad)
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Ahmedabad, considered an interlocutory application originally filed by the Resolution Professional of the Corporate Debtor under Sections 43 and 44 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), seeking avoidance of an alleged preferential transaction involving ₹26.79 crore. Subsequently, Bank of Baroda was substituted as the applicant in place of the Resolution Professional. The application sought restoration of ₹26,79,32,886.79 allegedly transferred from the Corporate Debtor’s bank account to another company within the group and consequential reliefs against various respondents.
The Corporate Debtor entered the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) pursuant to admission of a Section 7 petition on 24 February 2021. During the CIRP, the Resolution Professional was informed that IDBI Bank had blocked the Corporate Debtor’s bank accounts. On seeking clarification, the bank disclosed that, based on a forensic audit report relating to another group company, it had transferred ₹19.35 crore from the Corporate Debtor’s account to the account of that company and had further adjusted ₹7.44 crore towards creation of a fixed deposit against a bank guarantee, aggregating ₹26.79 crore. The applicant alleged that these actions were undertaken unilaterally without any court order and relied only on a forensic audit report whose operation had been stayed by the Delhi High Court. The applicant further alleged collusion among the respondents and sought reversal of the transfers as preferential transactions.
