New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear a petition filed by the promoters of tech company Byju’s, seeking to uphold a pre-Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (pre-CoC) settlement in the company’s insolvency proceedings.
The promoters’ lawyers challenged the decision by the Chennai-bench of National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) that denied withdrawal of insolvency proceedings initiated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) despite a full and final settlement of dues prior to the constitution of the Committee of Creditors (CoC).
The matter came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sanjay Kumar which issued notice to respondents, including the BCCI, seeking their responses to the plea.
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“Issue notice,” said the bench and added “the prayer for interim relief to be considered on the next date fixed i.e. July 21, 2025”.
Presenting the arguments for the petitioner, senior counsel K K Venugopal said that a settlement of Rs 158 crore between Byju’s and the BCCI was fully agreed upon, paid and formally communicated to the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) well before the CoC was constituted.
Building further on the argument, senior counsel Guru Krishna Kumar sought relief saying, “The Resolution Professional handling Think & Learn (BYJU’s ) insolvency in India has withdrawn legal proceedings in the US initiated by Think and Learn against the lenders. This is leading to substantial assets of the company in the US being disposed off.”
In a judgement delivered on October 23 last year, the apex court had set aside the NCLAT verdict that had halted the insolvency proceedings against the embattled ed-tech firm and held that US creditor firm Glas Trust Company LLC would have the locus to intervene.
The top court verdict had also come as a jolt for the BCCI as it annulled the NCLAT’s order approving Rs 158.9 crore dues settlement of Byju’s with the cricket board.
The apex court had directed the cricket board to deposit the settlement amount of Rs 158.9 crore with the committee of creditors (CoC).
It had held that the US firm, being the creditor, had the locus to intervene in matters relating to the corporate insolvency proceedings at National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), NCLAT and in the apex court as an affected party.
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