Supreme Court junks plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against Inox Wind

SC gives relief to Inox Wind

The Supreme Court on January 12 dismissed a plea seeking to initiate insolvency proceedings against renewable power firm Inox Wind Limited over non-payment of dues.

The court asked GRI Towers India Private Limited to explore options such as arbitration to recover its alleged dues from Inox and dismissed the plea.

GRI was engaged by Inox between 2013 and 2017 for providing equipment and manpower. The company alleged it had not been paid more than Rs 90 lakh for its work. Along with an annual interest of 12 percent, the amount crossed Rs 1 crore.

GRI moved the Supreme Court after National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in October dismissed its plea.

Dismissing the plea, NCLAT said, "Insolvency proceedings are not for recovery of contractual dues, it is apparent from the facts of the present case that the company has initiated proceeding for recovery of its contractual dues."

GRI had initially approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at Chandigarh to initiate the proceedings. The tribunal refused to entertain the plea, since the principle amount due was less the Rs 1 crore.

According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), a plea to insolvency can be filed only if the amount outstanding is Rs 1 crore or more.

At 1.18 pm, the stock was trading at Rs 439.65 on the National Stock Exchange, down 2.74 percent from the previous close.