NCLAT dismisses plea of Monnet Power RP over claims of BHEL

The NCLAT Tuesday dismissed a petition of the resolution professional of debt-ridden Monnet Power Company against an NCLT order, which had directed the firm to reconsider claims of its operational creditor state-owned BHEL.

A two-member National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) bench headed by Justice S J Mukhopadhaya asked the RP to act in accordance with the directions passed by the Mumbai bench of the NCLT on October 12, 2018, directing it to re-examine the claims of BHEL.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Mumbai had said RP of Monnet Power Company had "wrongly disallowed the substantial claim in its entirety" of BHEL, an operational creditor of the company.

"... we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned order dated October 12, 2018 passed by the adjudicating authority (NCLT). The 'Resolution Professional' is directed to act in accordance with the directions of the Adjudicating Authority," the appellate tribunal said.

"The appeal is dismissed with aforesaid observations and directions," it said further.

In the ongoing corporate insolvency resolution process of Monnet Power Company, Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) had filed an application before the resolution professional to admit the entire claim of Rs 977.49 crore along with interest.

Navneet Kumar Gupta, the RP, did not accept part of the claim, which was contested by BHEL before the NCLT Mumbai.

NCLT Mumbai, while determining inventory cost etc held that RP had wrongly disallowed BHEL's substantial claim and directed him to re-examine the claim on the basis of the accounts and evidence of PSU.

It also said "if the evidences corroborated the claim, the same should also be taken into account while finalising the total claim of BHEL".

This NCLT order was challenged by the RP before NCLAT, which, in turn, rejected.

Monnet Power owes around Rs 6,000 crore to a consortium of lenders, including State Bank of India and Punjab National Bank.