Lekha G
The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) will be hearing the Oyo Hotels and Homes Pvt. Ltd vs Rakesh Yadav’s case on May 4.
The case is about a Gurugram hotelier, Rakesh Yadav who accused OHHPL of defaulting on payments and violating an agreement that required it to operate and maintain the hotel under the brand Oyo.
Following the complaint, in March, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted a plea for corporate insolvency proceeding against OHHPL, which operates under the brand name Weddingz.in.
It appointed Advocate Keyur Jagdishbhai Shah as the Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) and asked the other creditors of the company to submit their claims keeping in with the Insolvency Code.
Oyo consequently challenged this order in the NCLAT. During the same week, NCLAT passed an interim relief following an appeal by OHHPL stating that a demand draft of Rs 16 lakh was issued to Yadav under protest.
During the hearing on April 16, Oyo submitted that they had settled the matter with Yadav but the latter continued to object and further Advocate Shah informed the court that he received claims worth more than Rs 160 crore against Oyo’s subsidiary. The case was adjourned to May 10.
However, Oyo filed an application pursuing an urgent listing of the case following which the matter was heard on April 30.
“Oyo filed an application seeking an urgent listing of the case, and resultantly, the matter was heard on April 30, where Oyo impressed upon the settlement. The operational creditor accepted the submissions and the parties have been directed to file a joint petition recording the settlement.”, said Alipak Banerjee, leader of International Dispute Resolution, Nishith Desai Associates.
The Court will pass directions on the matter on May 4.
However, a group of hotel owners are still concerned due to the limit for creditors to take a company to NCLT for insolvency proceedings was raised to Rs 1 crore from Rs 1 lakh and this was the only opportunity for small claimants to submit their claims.