Today, On 4th November, Aditya Birla Finance and Glas Trust have approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to request the replacement of the resolution professional (RP) overseeing Byju’s insolvency process. They argued that the RP has classified only one entity as a financial creditor, which has led to a Committee of Creditors (CoC) with a single member holding 100% voting rights.
Aditya Birla Finance and Glas Trust Company submitted applications to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in Bengaluru on Monday, seeking to replace the Resolution Professional (RP) for Byju’s parent company, Think and Learn.
A bench comprising Judicial Member K Biswal and Technical Member Manoj Kumar Dubey agreed to schedule the hearings for next week.
The request made for an urgent hearing today. Senior Advocate Uday Holla, representing Glas Trust, informed the NCLT that the RP designated only one creditor as a financial creditor. This classification has led to a Committee of Creditors (CoC) consisting of just one creditor holding 100% voting rights.
The CoC, made up of financial creditors, holds significant power over a company once it enters the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), while operational creditors do not have voting rights in CoC meetings.
According to sources familiar with the situation, the creditor that initially held 0.02% voting rights in the CoC has acquired 100% voting rights due to the RP’s exclusion of Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance.
Holla also noted that Glas Trust filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court on October 25, which resulted in a stay on the CoC meetings. He requested that the NCLT schedule a hearing for the case this week.
Senior Advocate Promod Nair, representing Aditya Birla Finance, argued,
“They have classified us as operational creditors; we are financial creditors.”
He also noted that the Karnataka High Court directed the NCLT to hear and resolve these applications within two weeks.
Assisting Nair for Aditya Birla Finance were Advocates Ahaan Mohan and Ayshwarya Mahadev from AMM & Associates. Meanwhile, Senior Advocate Dhyan Chinnappa, appearing for the suspended management of Think and Learn, requested copies of the applications.
On October 23, the Supreme Court allowed an appeal by Glas Trust, a US-based financial creditor, challenging an NCLAT decision that halted insolvency proceedings against Think & Learn, Byju’s parent company. This judgment overturned the NCLAT order that had accepted a settlement between Byju Raveendran and the BCCI, which had led to Byju’s admission into insolvency proceedings by the NCLT Bengaluru in July.
The matter has now been sent back to the NCLT for further action in the insolvency case.