Ashish Arjunkumar Rathi Vs Sunil Gutte & 5 others (NCLT Mumbai)
NCLT Mumbai held that payment made after Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process [CIRP] without consent of Interim Resolution Professional [IRP] is breach of moratorium as provided in Section 14 of the Code. Hence, payment is liable to be refunded back to Corporate Debtor.
Facts- The present application is being filed by the Applicant, namely. Sunil Hitech Engineers Ltd. through its resolution professional Mr. Ashish Arjunkumar Rathi seeking, inter alia, directions for refund of certain amounts by the Respondents, for making contribution to the assets of the Corporate Debtor and for imposing punishment upon the Respondents for breach of moratorium by them and for fraudulently transferring the property of the Corporate Debtor.
Conclusion- The Hon’ble NCLAT in the case of Vikash Jeeps v. Anoop Bhatia RP (2023) ibclaw.in 785 NCLAT rejected the contention of the Suspended Directors that the payments have been made to discharge statutory liabilities that too within a short period from the date of admission and upheld the order passed by this Tribunal directing the Suspended Board of Directors to deposit the amount withdrawn from the bank account of the Corporate Debtor after the commencement of CIRP, holding that “once the order of admission was passed and moratorium is imposed under Section 14 of the Code, the powers of the Board got suspended and management and the affairs of the CD vests with the IRP. Counsel for the Appellant also could not cite any precedent in his favors for the purpose of setting aside the impugned order”.
