The Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has admitted the listed road infrastructure company, Sadbhav Engineering, under the corporate insolvency resolution process in an application filed by its operational creditor, SS Infra.
The tribunal has also appointed Sanjay Kumar Agarwal as the interim resolution professional (IRP) of the company.
“The applicant (SS Infra) has proved before us that the outstanding operational debt is more than rupees one crore, which is due to the applicant by the respondent and that the respondent (Sadbhav Engineering) has defaulted in payment,” said the division bench of judicial member Shammi Khan and technical member Sameer Kakar, in its order of April 22.
Before the tribunal’s order, SS Infra through its counsel argued that despite repeated requests, Sadbhav Engineering failed to pay the dues and hence the company approached the tribunal as a last resort.
SS Infra approached the tribunal in September 2021.
In this case, Gujarat-based Sadbhav Engineering had awarded its operational creditor SS Infra a work order to shift electrical utilities under Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Ltd (UHBVNL) and fixing them along the four-lane NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) section of Yamuna Nagar-Panchkula in the state of Haryana.
SS Infra had argued that after the issue of the work order, it had completed the work as per the order and raised the running bills from time to time to the company. The petitioner company argued that UHBVNL had also issued various completion certificates in respect of the work done by SS Infra.
Subsequently, the operational creditor of Sadbhav Engineering argued in the tribunal that the company had paid to it about Rs 26.43 crore and a sum of Rs 3.97 crore is still due and payable.
Gujarat-based Sadbhav Engineering has been trying to pare its debt for a long time now.
Earlier, in August 2021, Adani Road Transport Ltd (ARTL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Ltd (AEL), acquired Maharashtra Border Check Post Network Ltd (MBCPNL), a subsidiary of Sadbhav Infrastructure Project Limited (SIPL) at an enterprise value of Rs 1,680 crore. SIPL is a subsidiary of Sadbhav Engineering. As per the deal announcement, ARTL was to acquire the initial 49% of MBCPNL, with an option to acquire an additional stake in the company.
The company’s lenders include Punjab National Bank, Union Bank of India, Bank of India, State Bank of India, Karur Vysya Bank, IDBI Bank, ICICI Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Axis Bank and Yes Bank.
