NCLAT: ‘Take a decision on the agreement between BCCI and Byju’ within a week’, NCLAT orders NCLT

New Delhi| Appellate tribunal NCLAT directed the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to take a decision within a week to conclude the settlement and bankruptcy case between the BCCI and Byju’s.

The two-member bench of NCLAT included Justices Rakesh Kumar Jain and Jatindranath Swain, who asked the NCLT to take this decision. Byju’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Riju Ravindran had filed the petition against the tribunal’s previous order, which had reinstated Glass Trust and Aditya Birla Finance in Byju’s Lender Committee (CoC). While disposing of the petition, the bench gave this direction.

NCLAT said, NCLT is directed to take a decision on the petition. Please try to settle it within a week. However, NCLAT also clarified that it has not commented on the facts of the case. Byju’s former promoter and Byju Raveendran’s brother Riju Raveendran had challenged the order of the Bangalore bench of NCLT. On 29 January, NCLT had ordered initiation of disciplinary proceedings against Byju’s ‘Samadhan Peshevar’ (RP) and quashed the direction to exclude Glass Trust and Aditya Birla Finance from Byju’s creditor committee. Solution professional means the person or entity responsible for reforming or resolving the company in the process of bankruptcy.

NCLT had directed IBBI to investigate against Byju’s RP Pankaj Srivastava. NCLAT had also canceled the reconstitution of Baidu’s Creditor Committee (CoC). Interim RP had restructured the CoC on 31 August 2024, with Glass Trust and Aditya Birla Finance being excluded.

Riju Ravindran, in his petition in NCLAT, said that NCLT should not have reconstituted the lender committee until the CIRP (Corporate Bankruptcy Resolution Process) was withdrawn due to the agreement with BCCI. Ravindra said that the agreement with BCSI was reached when the creditor committee was not formed. He also said that the Supreme Court had given him the freedom to adopt appropriate measures after this agreement, but the NCLAT order violates it.