Properties of corporate debtor to secure the third party debts cannot partake the character of 'financial debt' under IBC; SC.
- 09:30Supreme Court of India
Justice Dinesh Maheshwari and Justice A M Khanwilkar
The SC {ANUJ JAIN INTERIM RESOLUTION PROFESSIONAL FOR JAYPEE INFRATECH LIMITED v. AXIS BANK LIMITED ETC.} holds that such lenders of JAL, on the strength of the mortgages in question, may fall in the category of secured creditors, but such mortgages being neither towards any loan, facility or advance to the corporate debtor nor towards protecting any facility or security of the corporate debtor, it cannot be said that the corporate debtor owes them any ‘financial debt’ within the meaning of Section 5(8) of the Code; and hence, such lenders of JAL do not fall in the category of the ‘financial creditors’ of the corporate debtor JIL.
Further held that a person having only security interest over the assets of corporate debtor (like the instant third party securities), even if falling within the description of ‘secured creditor’ by virtue of collateral security extended by the corporate debtor, would nevertheless stand outside the sect of ‘financial creditors’ as per the definitions contained in subsections (7) and (8) of Section 5 of the Code. Differently put, if a corporate debtor has given its property in mortgage to secure the debts of a third party, it may lead to a mortgage debt and, therefore, it may fall within the definition of ‘debt’ under Section 3(10) of the Code. However, it would remain a debt alone and cannot partake the character of a ‘financial debt’ within the meaning of Section 5(8) of the Code.
It was held by the NCLT (view was affirmed by the SC) that the transactions in question were to defraud the lenders of the corporate debtor JIL, as 858 acres of unencumbered land owned by the corporate debtor to secure the debt of the related party JAL was mortgaged in the midst of the corporate debtor’s immense financial crunch, while continuing with default towards the home buyers and financial creditors and after it had been declared as Non Performing Asset, in utter disregard to fiduciary duties and duty of care to the creditors; and further that the mortgage of land was created without any counter guarantee from the related party and with no other consideration being paid to the corporate debtor. The Tribunal was of the view that at the time when the mortgage was created, the corporate debtor was already in default to its lenders and it was unlikely that its lenders would have provided no-objection for creation of mortgages to secure the debt of a related party as that would have compromised not only the recovery of their dues but also the interests of thousands of home buyers waiting for their homes with investment of their hard earned money.
In the present case, the appeals before the SC were essentially directed against the common order dated 01.08.2019 as passed by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, New Delhi in a batch of appeals preferred by various banks and financial institutions whereby, the Appellate Tribunal set aside the order dated 16.05.2018, passed by the Adjudicating Authority, the National Company Law Tribunal, Allahabad Bench on the application moved by the Interim Resolution Professional in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process concerning the Corporate Debtor Company viz., Jaypee Infratech Limited seeking avoidance of certain transactions, whereby the corporate debtor had mortgaged its properties as collateral securities for the loans and advances made by the lender banks and financial institutions to Jaiprakash Associates Limited , the holding company of JIL, as being preferential, undervalued and fraudulent, in terms of Sections 43, 45 and 66 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. The appeal was accordingly allowed by the SC.