The Delhi High Court has ruled that the issue of applicability of the notification increasing the pecuniary threshold under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to Rs 1 crore, does not fall under the administrative capacity of the Registrar of NCLT.
The case of the Petitioner, Skillstech Service Pvt. Ltd. was that the Registrar of the NCLT has failed to even list their matter before the appropriate bench of NCLT, on the ground that the threshold of the pecuniary jurisdiction of the NCLT has now been amended by a notification dated 24th November, 2020, from Rs.1 lakh, to Rs.1 crore.
They were seeking a listing of a section 9 IBC petition before the appropriate bench of NCLT initially.
The petitioners relied on order from NCLT Kochi where it was held. “if disputes had arisen prior to the outbreak of the pandemic, the said notification may not apply, as the notification cannot be made applicable retrospectively.”
The single bench court of Justice Prathiba M Singh has while ruling in favour of the petitioner said, “This court is of the opinion that the question as to whether the NCLT has jurisdiction to entertain a particular case or not cannot be determined by the Registrar in the administrative capacity. The Registrar would have to place the matter before the appropriate bench of the NCLT, for the said question to be judicially determined. The appropriate bench of the NCLT would have to then, take a considered view as to whether notice is liable to be issued in the matter or not.”
The said notification was brought to force on November 24th last year, with an aim to prevent the triggering of insolvency proceedings against micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), amid the COVID-19 Pandemic.
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