Creditors move NCLT; seek bigger claim in Vasan Health Care insolvency case

A group of financiers approached the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Chennai Bench, seeking its claim to be adjudicated as part of the insolvency resolution process being executed on Vasan Health Care Pvt Ltd. The hearing came up today even as the insolvency resolution process intiated in April 2017 has been delayed due to various litigation matters.

The petition was filed by some of the creditors, mainly private financiers, seeking more amount of claim to be accepted by the Resolution Professional as part of the process. According to official documents, the amount claimed by nine financial creditors including Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company, is around Rs 1,268.86 crore, of which around 507.89 crore is by Edelweiss Asset Reconstruction Company. Some of the financial creditors have also approached the Tribunal seeking more amount of claim has to be accepted.

While the resolution process has been approved by the NCLT in 2017, based on a petition filed by one of its supplier Alcon Laboratories, the matter went to the High Court of Madras and a stay was issued on the process, till September, 2019, when the stay was vacated and the Court ordered that the proceedings under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code can continue against the company. 

However, sources said that the process was further delayed due to various disputes related to the claims and the right to voting share of the members of the Committee of Creditors, among others. Even after 200 days from the initiation of the process, it is yet to come to the stage of calling for expression of interest by interested investors and it may need to go for NCLT approval for extension of timeframe for the process.

Vasan Health Care, which runs Vasan Eye Care in various parts of Tamil Nadu, has went through a rapid expansion and later saw financial crisis impacting its operations, according to reports.