Praful Satra & Ors Vs Vaishali Patrikar (NCLAT Delhi)
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), New Delhi, has dismissed an appeal filed by Praful Satra & Ors., the suspended directors of M/s Satra Properties (India) Ltd., thereby upholding an order issued by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai. The NCLT’s directive mandates the recovery of ₹2.65 Crore, along with 15% interest, from the erstwhile directors due to a transaction deemed fraudulent. The NCLAT found no grounds to interfere with the NCLT’s findings, which identified the transaction as an act for a fraudulent purpose under Section 66(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.
Background of the Case: The corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) for M/s Satra Properties (India) Ltd. commenced following an application filed by Vistra ITCL (India) Ltd. (formerly IL & FS Trust Company) under Section 7 of the IBC. The application was admitted on August 3, 2020, and Devrajan Raman was initially appointed as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP), later replaced by Ms. Vaishali Patrikar, the current Resolution Professional (RP).
During the CIRP, the RP initiated an application, IA No. 1626 of 2023, before the NCLT under Section 66 of the IBC. Among the prayers sought, a key demand was for the suspended directors (Respondent Nos. 2, 5 to 9 in the NCLT application) to refund ₹2.65 Crore, plus 18% interest, into the Corporate Debtor’s bank account. This amount pertained to “Transaction No. 2,” which the RP alleged caused a loss to the Corporate Debtor’s creditors.
