The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) of Hyderabad held that the Airport Authority of India Is a Statutory Body and does Not Fall within the Scope of a Corporate Person under the Insolvency Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.
The application is filed by M/s. Akash Electrotek Engineers Private Limited, being the Operational Creditor (the Petitioner) seeking to initiate the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against M/s. NCC Limited, (Respondent-1) and M/s Airport Authority of India, (Respondent-2) for the alleged default in discharging the debt that is due to the Petitioner.
The Petitioner is in the business of electrical works, installation of electrical equipment and supply of equipment etc. to its customers. In the year 2018, Respondent-2 awarded a contract to Respondent-1 vide Agreement for electrical work at Lucknow Airport. Thereafter a Tripartite Agreement was executed between the Petitioner, Respondent-1 & Respondent-2.
By the Tripartite Agreement, Respondent-1 was obligated to make payment to the Petitioner upon the completion of electrical works, with the endorsement of Respondent-2. The Applicant was required to participate in all meetings convened by Respondent 2 and adhere to any instructions or directives issued periodically.
The assertion is that the Petitioner accomplished 95% of the total assigned work from Respondent-1 to the utmost satisfaction of the Respondents, including M/s. Adani Group. However, despite numerous requests, payment for the bills submitted at various stages for the completed work was not forthcoming.
The Petitioner communicated with Respondent 2 requesting the release of an amount totalling Rs1.68 crore as against the Invoice dated 12.07.20213, which was the outstanding sum for the completed electrical works.
According to the Petitioner, it had come to know that Respondent-1 had already received the specified payment from the Airport Authority for the work carried out by the Petitioner on various dates. This information was allegedly concealed by Respondent 1. It is further contended that the Respondents did not raise any dispute concerning the work completed by the Petitioner, indicating that the pre-bills submitted by the Petitioner were genuine and bonafide.
The Coram comprising of Smt. Bidisha Banerjee (Judicial Member) and Shri Arvind Devanathan (Technical Member) observed that “AAI (Respondent-2) being a statutory body created under the Airport Authority of India Act, 1944, does not come under the definition of ‘corporate person’ under Section 3(7) of IBC. Therefore, proceedings under IBC could not have been initiated against them. Considering that AAI is the main party against whom the Application is directed, it suffers from a fatal flaw by impleading AAI as the defaulting Corporate Debtor.”
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