NCLT admits personal insolvency plea against Rajkumar Dhoot of Videocon

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Mumbai has admitted the State Bank of India’s application to initiate personal insolvency resolution proceedings against Rajkumar Nandlal Dhoot, promoter & co-owner of the diversified Videocon Group, for a Rs 5,353-crore default by the group’s flagship company Videocon Industries Ltd. Dhoot was a personal guarantor against these loans.

The tribunal has also directed the resolution professional Ashish Narayan to issue a public notice to invite claims from all creditors.

“It is established that the corporate debtor (Videocon Industries) has committed defaults in repayment of loan amount granted by the financial creditor (SBI),” observed the division bench of judicial member VG Bisht and technical member Prabhat Kumar in its order of June 4. “Rajkumar Nandlal Dhoot, personal guarantor to Videocon Industries has also committed default in repayment of loan facility demanded by the financial creditor after the invocation of personal guarantee.”

Before the tribunal’s order, Dhoot, through his counsel Sandeep Ladda argued that the mandatory demand notice was never served upon him.

“The alleged email address on which the notice is served is not in use and deactivated since a long,” argued Dhoot through his counsel. “The alleged office address on which the demand notice is allegedly served that office had already been sold with the consent of the consortium of banks for repayment of the loan, much prior to the date of the demand notice. Hence, the present company petition is not maintainable and deserves to be dismissed,” he argued.

Countering this, the State Bank of India, through Animesh Bisht of Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, argued that the IBC (Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code) demand notice, the company petition and the letter of examination of the application have been duly served on the provided address of the respondent (Dhoot).

Ashish Pyasi, Partner of law firm Aendri Legal, said that with the admission of the SBI’s application a moratorium has kicked in so that there is no further prosecution against the personal guarantor.

“The resolution professional will be calling for the claims from the creditor and will prepare a list of them,” said Pyasi.

“The personal guarantor shall prepare a repayment plan with the resolution professional, which will be placed before the committee of creditors. Once approved, it will be submitted for final approval.”

On June 6, 2018, Videocon Industries was admitted under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) in an application filed by the SBI. Videocon Industries, the flagship company of Rajkumar and his brother Venugopal Dhoot-promoted group, had admitted claims of more than Rs 61,770 crore to financial creditors.