NCLAT stays company-wide insolvency process against Raheja Developers

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Thursday passed an order confining the insolvency process initiated against Raheja Developers to its 'Shilas Low Rise' project.

A coram of Chairperson Justice (retd) Ashok Bhushan and Technical Members Barun Mitra and Arun Baroka thus stayed the operation of the company-wide Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) initiated by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on November 19.

The Interim Resolution Professional (IRP), whose remit is now confined to Shilas Low Rise, has been directed to liaison with the company in order to chart a plan for delivery of the homes.

The NCLT had admitted Raheja Developers Limited to the CIRP after a plea was filed by 43 homebuyers of Shilas Low Rise over non-delivery of homes.

The homebuyers had booked apartments in a project by Raheja Shilas Low Rise located at Sector 109, Gurugram, Haryana. While the project was supposed to be delivered between 2012 and 2014, it had not been delivered as of 2023. This prompted the homebuyers to move the NCLT under Section 7 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC).

The Tribunal also turned down the request to admit this project alone for insolvency, saying that the IBC and the CIRP Rules do not empower the NCLT to do so. 

Before the NCLAT today, Senior Advocate Arun Kathpalia, who appeared for Managing Director (MD) of the company Navin Raheja, argued that the company had 40 overall projects and 8 projects were under construction.

With respect to Shilas Low Rise, he contended that while construction is complete, it could not be handed over due to non-issuance of Occupancy Certificate (OC) by the Director of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). According to Kathpalia, the OC had not been issued owing to the electricity department's non-issuance of a No-Objection Certificate (NOC).

Explaining that Raheja had done everything in its power, Kathpalia stated that the they have received a provisional NOC and the OC is likely to be received in 4-8 weeks. He said,

"If this order subsists, the OC will go for a toss. I would beseech that the insolvency be stayed for 6 to 8 weeks so that OC is received. "

Advocate Manu Chaturvedi, who appeared for the homebuyers, stated that the question is not just of the OC, but also of the completion certificate which had not been issued as yet. He contended that Raheja is yet to clear many pending dues with the DTCP, without which the OC will never be issued. He, however, stated that they had specifically asked only for this project to to be admitted to CIRP.

Advocate Aditya Parolia appeared for the intervenors and made submissions regarding the state of other projects by Raheja. He contended that the company has not been delivering other projects on time as well.