Mumbai: The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed ICICI Bank to reverse the transactions carried out on Ruchi Soya’s current account after the commencement of the company’s insolvency moratorium and allowed the miscellaneous application filed by the company’s resolution professional (RP).
The resolution professional of the Mumbai-based edible oil food maker Ruchi Soya had moved NCLT against ICICI Bank seeking its intervention to retrieve around Rs48 crore that the bank had paid towards a letter of credit (LoC) from Ruchi Soya’s current account.
On Tuesday, a division bench of NCLT presided by B.S.V. Prakash Kumar and Ravikumar Duraisamy, while allowing the application, directed the bank to reverse the transaction.
“This will help the RP to increase the kitty further to distribute among the lenders of the company,” said one of the lawyers involved in the case, requesting anonymity, since the matter is sub-judice.
Earlier, senior counsel Navroz Seervai representing the resolution professional argued that the transactions took place during the moratorium period which is wrongful and the bank needs to reverse those transactions. While Zal Andhyarujina, who was arguing for the bank, said that at the time of the transaction, the bank had no knowledge of a moratorium period had come into effect.
The company is part of the so-called second list of 28 defaulters the RBI flagged for resolution under its schemes before December, failing which the cases would have had to be filed against these companies at the National Company Law Tribunal. The NCLT admitted Ruchi Soya for insolvency resolution process in December after initiation by Standard Chartered Bank and DBS Bank.
On 2 December, Mumbai NCLT had admitted the company for insolvency resolution process under IBC.
An ICICI Bank spokesperson said: “The honourable NCLT, Mumbai has given the order on the Ruchi Soya case today. We are yet to receive a copy of the same. The bank will decide the future course of legal action upon receipt of the certified copy of the order.”