NCLT passes order to liquidate Kwalit y

Bankrupt dairy firm failed to finalise any bidder in specified timeframe

NEWDELHI: The Na tional Company La w T ribunal (NCLT) has directed to liquidate debt-ridden dairy firm Kwality Ltd after the company f ailed to finalise any bidder within the specified time-frame.

The NCL T had dir ected to in itiate insolv ency pr oceedings against K wality Ltd on December 11, 2018 over the plea filed by the financial cr editors Punja b National Bank and K KR India Financial Services.

A tw o-member benc h of the D elhi-based NCL T ob - served tha t despite extension in the insolv ency timeline, the lenders of the Kwality f ailed to finalis e any potential buyer for the company.

The Committee of Creditors (CoC) had r eceived only one r esolution plan for the c ompany fr om a consortium of Haldiram Snacks and Pi oneer Securities, but the bid could not get a pproved with th e r equired majority of 66 per cent votes of lenders.

Following this, its resolution pr ofessional (RP) Shailendra Ajmera, who is part of consultanc y fir m E&Y, had mo ved an a pplication to initia te the li quidation process for the company as manda ted under the Insolv ency & B ruptcy Code (IBC).

"In v iew of the f acts and circumstances, th is authority (NCLT) is satisfied that the a pplication filed for initia tion of liquidation pr oceedings a gainst the cor porate debtor (Kwality) is a fit case f or ordering the liquidation of the corporate debtor namely Kwality Ltd in the manner laid down in IBC, 2016," said a tw o-member NCL T bench compris ing M S Tariq and N K Bhola.