Now, Glas Trust Drags BYJU’S Resolution Professional To Supreme Court

The consortium of BYJU’S US-based lenders, Glas Trust LLC, has moved the Supreme Court against the troubled edtech giant’s insolvency resolution professional, Pankaj Srivastava.

Glas Trust has challenged its removal from BYJU’S committee of creditors (CoC). Besides, it is also seeking the removal of Srivastava.

As per Livemint, Glas Trust’s counsel Kapil Sibal told a bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud that its disqualification from the CoC was unwarranted. He alleged that Srivastava verified and admitted Glas Trust’s claims but later dropped them from the CoC. 

“We are financial creditors and we have over 19% vote share and the resolution professional disqualified us,” Bar and Bench quotes Sibal as saying.

The next hearing in the matter is scheduled on Wednesday (September 18). 

It is pertinent to note that Glas Trust was removed from the CoC shortly after its first meeting on September 3. After the ouster, the lenders labelled Srivastava’s actions as unprecedented and entirely illegitimate.

“No interim resolution professional in the history of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of India has ever attempted to unlawfully strip financial creditors of claims of this magnitude amounting to more than $1.35 Bn without any legitimate reason and in doing so securing his appointment as the permanent resolution professional,” it said in a statement.

Glas Trust also moved the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) seeking a stay on further meetings of the CoC. However, the Appellate Tribunal refused to grant any immediate relief.

This is the second legal case against Srivastava since he has taken charge of BYJU’S bankruptcy proceedings. Last week, Aditya Birla Finance also moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) against Srivastava, alleging that he committed fraud by wrongfully labelling the former as an ‘operational creditor’ instead of a ‘financial creditor’. 

Aditya Birla Finance has filed claims worth INR 47.2 Cr, of which Srivastava has admitted INR 30 Cr of claims. 

Meanwhile, Glas Trust has filed a claim for dues worth INR 11,432 Cr ($1.36 Bn). However, BYJU’S founder Byju Raveendran claims that the IRP had verified debt claims worth only INR 20 Cr.

It is pertinent to note that the US-based Term Loan B lenders have also accused BYJU’S of syphoning off $533 Mn and are fighting a separate case in a US Bankruptcy Court. Earlier in August, the court ordered Raveendran’s brother Riju Ravindran to pay $10,000 a day until he helps locate $533 Mn that his company is accused of hiding from US lenders.