Unpaid dues: Oyo moves NCLAT against insolvency order

Oyo on Wednesday said that it has challenged in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal the order of the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal to initiate corporate insolvency process against its subsidiary, Oyo Hotels and Homes (OHHPL), over a dispute of Rs 16 lakh.

The order for initiating the insolvency resolution process was passed by the Ahmedabad bench of NCLT on April 1, on an application filed by an operational creditor over non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 16 lakh. The petition was filed by one Rakesh Yadav.

“The creditors of Oyo Hotels and Homes are hereby called upon to submit their claims before April 15 to the interim resolution professional,” an April 3 order of the interim resolution professional, Keyur Jagdishbhai Shah, stated.

Founder and CEO Ritesh Agarwal took to Twitter to clarify that a certain PDF and text messages claiming Oyo to have filed for bankruptcy is “absolutely untrue and inaccurate”. Agarwal said that a claimant is seeking Rs 16 lakh from Oyo’s subsidiary leading to a petition at NCLT. “Oyo is recovering from the pandemic steadily and our largest markets are operating profitably,” Agarwal said in a tweet.

In a statement, Oyo said that the disputed amount of Rs 16 lakh has already been paid to the claimant under protest by the entity (other than OHHPL) with whom the dispute was raised. The company said that this is not the first time that a petition has been accepted by the NCLT for a new-age company. “In Febraury 2020, Flipkart also received such a petition and it was set aside….Flipkart had a similar matter in February 2020 where a court for a small operational creditor had allowed NCLT petition but it was promptly set aside by NCLAT,” the company said.

“The matter is sub-judice and we would refrain from commenting further on the merits of the matter at this stage. We have strong faith and belief in our judicial system,” a company spokesperson added.