BYJU’S Insolvency: NCLT Directs CoC To Decide On BCCI’s Plea

SUMMARY

During the hearing, advocate Srinivasa Raghavan, appearing for the creditors, argued that the outgoing RP Pankaj Srivastava was not “conducting himself properly”

Meanwhile, the NCLT also directed the concerned parties to file an appropriate application to bring various facts on record

This follows the NCLAT last week directing the NCLT to clear the application filed by the BCCI within a week’s time

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday (February 11) reportedly directed the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to submit its application to settle its insolvency dispute with BYJU’S to the troubled edtech’s newly constituted committee of creditors (CoC).

Moving forward, the CoC will decide on the BCCI’s withdrawal of insolvency application.

As per Bar and Bench, the directions were issued by the NCLT Bengaluru’s bench, comprising judicial member K Biswal and technical member Ravichandran Ramaswamy.

During the hearing, advocate Srinivasa Raghavan, appearing for the creditors, argued that the outgoing resolution professional (RP) Pankaj Srivastava was not “conducting himself properly”. He further contended that Srivastava did not call the meeting of the newly constituted CoC, adding that the RP has been postponing the meeting despite the NCLT issuing directions to conduct it.

Aditya Birla Finance’s counsel Promod Nair also reportedly called on the NCLT to adjudicate on this issue. Meanwhile, the NCLT also directed the concerned parties to file an appropriate application to bring these facts on record.

This follows the NCLAT on Friday (February 8) disposing of an appeal filed by Riju Raveendran challenging the reinstatement of the edtech’s lenders Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance into the CoC of BYJU’S. The appellate tribunal also directed the NCLT to clear the application filed by the BCCI within a week’s time.

In January, the NCLT initiated disciplinary proceedings against the insolvency resolution professional (IRP) of BYJU’S, Pankaj Srivastava, and set aside his decision to exclude Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance from the CoC. At the time, the tribunal also directed the formation of a new CoC, and entrusted the new committee to take a call on appointing a new resolution professional.

The root cause of this issue was Riju Raveendran’s petition in the NCLAT last month that said the NCLT cannot order the reconstitution of the CoC due to the pendency of the BCCI’s proposed settlement with BYJU’S. He also argued that a full settlement was reached with the BCCI before the CoC was even formed, making the cricket board’s withdrawal application the most pressing matter.

Besides the insolvency proceedings in India, BYJU’S is also entangled in legal conflicts in the US. In January, a top company executive and an ally of Byju Raveedran were held in contempt of a US court for failing to answer questions about their roles in seizing assets, cash and software from BYJU’S subsidiaries — Epic! and Tangible Play.