NCLT grants Gail India operational creditor status in Alok Industries case

However, two-member bench of tribunal did not go into merit of GAIL's claims for dues worth Rs 506 crore

The Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Wednesday accepted Gail India Ltd's plea to be treated as operational creditor in the textile player Alok Industries' insolvency matter. 

However, while passing the order on Wednesday, the two-member bench consisting of adjudicating authorities Harihar Prakash Chaturvedi and Manorama Kumari said that while Gail India would be treated as an OC on par with its status in other cases, such as Essar Steel, the tribunal did not go into the merit of its claims for dues worth Rs 506 crore.

In its plea before the NCLT Ahmedabad bench, Gail India had stated that the resolution professional (RP) appointed for Alok Industries had rejected its status as an operational creditor (OC) and ignored its claims for dues worth Rs 506 crore. 

The bench, however, said that the resolution professional (RP) appointed for Alok Industries should have have consulted the Committee of Creditors (CoC) and sought direction from the tribunal, instead of adjudicating over categorizing Gail as an operational creditor.

Gail had also thereby opposed the resolution plan proposed by Reliance Industries Ltd in partnership with JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company for the insolvent Alok Industries. 

However, as per the resolution plan submitted by Reliance Industries in partnership with JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company, Gail India is unlikely to gain anything out of its Rs 506 crore claim from the insolvent Alok Industries. This is because RIL's resolution plan for Alok Industries proposes to make full payments to operational creditors with claims of only up to Rs 3 lakh.

Alok Industries is one of the first 12 loan default cases in which the corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) was initiated in the country under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC).