The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Bengaluru on April 24 imposed a cost of Rs 20,000 on embattled ed-tech company Byju's for not filing its response to an insolvency plea filed by Surfer Technology despite being given several chances to do so.
"We will consider your response only after you deposit the cost," the NCLT bench told Byju's lawyers. The tribunal had issued a notice to the cash-strapped ed-tech firm in Surfer's plea in February and Byju's had sought time to file a response twice before it decided to levy the cost.
While the tribunal was initially inclined to close Byju's right to file a response to the plea, it eventually allowed it to do so after imposing the cost. "What were you doing for a month or 20 days?" the tribunal asked the Byju's counsels.
The lawyers tried to tell the tribunal that there was a delay in obtaining instructions from the company and they will file a response to the plea in three days but the NCLT wasn't convinced with their response.
In February, Surfer complained that Byju's owed them Rs 2.3 crore and all of this is admitted debt. According to Surfer, they were generating leads for Byju's and passing them on. These leads were overseen and then authorised by the ed-tech company.
Surfer is the fourth entity to approach the NCLT against Byju's after Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), France-based Teleperfomance Business Services company, and its lenders. Surfer's plea was filed on January 9, while it was registered on February 1. Surfer would fall under the category of operational creditor as it is a service provider.
There are two kinds of creditors under IBC: operational creditors (OCs), and financial creditors (FCs). While the OCs are those which provide goods and services to a business but have not been paid, FCs are those that lend money to the company.
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