बायजूस के खिलाफ दिवालिया कार्यवाही शुरू होगी: NCLT ने स्वीकार की BCCI की याचिका, कंपनी ने नहीं चुकाए 158 करोड़ रुपए

The Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has accepted BCCI’s plea to initiate insolvency proceedings against edtech company Byju’s. The case is related to the sponsorship contract between Byju’s and BCCI for the Indian cricket team’s jersey.

BCCI filed this petition last year against Byju’s parent company Think and Learn Private Limited to recover the dues of Rs 158 crore. The next hearing of this case is scheduled on November 15. Byju’s is in discussions with BCCI to resolve the matter.

The email trail clearly shows that Byju’s defaulted
The bench said that it is clear from the email trail between BCCI and Byju that Think and Learn has defaulted. The bench appointed Pankaj Srivastava as interim resolution professional and ordered him to form a committee of creditors within 30 days from the date of appointment.

It defaulted for the first time on 21 August 2022
According to the information given in the order, Think and Learn defaulted on a total of 12 invoices raised by the BCCI after several international tours and series of the Indian cricket team. BCCI said that Byju’s first defaulted on August 21, 2022.

Byju’s did not pay Rs 158.9 crore to BCCI
In January last year, Byju’s allowed BCCI to encash a bank guarantee of Rs 143 crore, after which the current amount owed by Byju’s is Rs 158.9 crore. The case filed by BCCI on 8 September 2023 came up for hearing on 28 November.

Creditors will get control of the company from the current management
According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), the control of the company will now be handed over from the current management to the creditors. Apart from this, no assets of Byju’s can be transferred while the company is in the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).

The company can appeal against the order in NCLAT
The company’s founder Byju Ravindran or any member of the board can appeal against this order in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and then in the Supreme Court. It should also be noted that in the very first hearing, NCLT had issued a notice to Byju’s and sought a reply.

Investment firm Prosus lost Rs 4,115 crore investment
Recently, investment firm Prosus had written off its investment in Byju’s. That is, the investor had accepted that his investment of about Rs 4,115 crore in Byju’s was lost. He had a 9.6% stake in the edtech company. The investor had given this information in his annual report.