B.Karthikeyan vs Nonstop Courier And Cargo Pvt Ltd

B. Karthikeyan ...Appellant

Versus

Nonstop Courier & Cargo Pvt. Ltd. ...Respondent

Present: For Appellant : Mr. S. Ramajayam, Advocate

ORDER

03.05.2019 The Appellant filed an application u/s 9 of the Insolvency and

Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (for short, the 'I&B Code') against 'M/s. Nonstop Courier

and Cargo Private Limited' which has been rejected by order dated 14th March,

2019 by the Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law Tribunal), Division

Bench, Chennai. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of the Appellant submits

that the respondent failed to refund the deposit amount of Rs. 2.50 Lakhs

deposited by the Appellant with the 'Corporate Debtor'. It is submitted that the

aforesaid amount of Rs. 2.50 Lakhs deposited to get franchisee rights over

Alwarpet and T. Nagar branches of 'M/s. Nonstop Courier and Cargo Private

Limited'.

2. From the aforesaid submission, it is clear that the Appellant has neither

supplied any goods nor provided any services and it has only deposited money

for Franchisee rights and as such it cannot be termed as 'Operational Creditor'

in terms of Section 9 of the I&B Code. In view of the matter the application

under Section 9 being not maintainable, we are not inclined to interfere with the 2

impugned order dated 14th March, 2019. However, we are not expressing any

opinion as to whether in the facts and circumstances of the case the Appellant

can claim to be a 'Financial Creditor' for initiation of proceeding u/s 7 of the I&B

Code.

The appeal is dismissed with aforesaid observations.

[Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya] Chairperson

[ Justice A.I.S. Cheema ] Member (Judicial)

[ Kanthi Narahari ] Member (Technical)

/ns/gc

Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 476 of 2019