NCLT begins insolvency proceedings against Lanco Infratech

Hyderabad: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has commenced insolvency proceedings against Lanco Infratech Ltd, which is among the 12 identified cases referred to the tribunal following the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) directive on June13, according to a Lanco Infra’s communique to BSE on Thursday.

The Hyderabad bench of NCLT accepted the petition moved by IDBI Bank and appointed Savan Godiawala as the interim insolvency professional. The order was passed on August 7. “Mr Savan Godiawala was appointed as Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) with effect from August 7, 2017, under the provisions of IBC. As a result of the said order, the power of the board directors stands suspended,” Lanco Infra said in the communique.

Subsequently, the board meeting, scheduled on August 11, also stands cancelled. Upon admission of the petition, a six-month moratorium begins to decide on a resolution plan in accordance with the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. During this period, all existing proceedings against the defaulter are suspended. This moratorium can be extended up to 270 days.

So far, various benches of NCLTs have accepted cases against 11 identified large borrowers, with Era Infra Engineering being the only exception. According to media reports, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) is said to have rejected the proposal of appointing Vijaykumar V Iyer of Deloitte as an IRP to resolve the Rs 44,000-cr exposure of Lanco Infratech. The Hyderabad bench of the NCLT said that “a IRP for two other companies may not find sufficient time to act as IRP for Lanco, which is already a complicated case.”