Khanna Lubricants vs Gulf Petronergy Pvt. Ltd
- CitationCompany Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 251 of 2018
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
A creditor is entitled to assign its debt to another person, but a debtor cannot assign a debt payable by it to a third party in the absence of any statutory or contractual provision permitting the assignment of a debtor's debt. Where a pre-existing dispute exists between the parties, an application under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 is not maintainable, and the Adjudicating Authority's dismissal of such an application will not be interfered with.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
M/s. Khanna Lubricants ...Appellant
Vs.
M/s. Gulf Petronergy Pvt. Ltd. & Anr. ...Respondents
Present: For Appellant: - Mr. Sumesh Dhawan, Ms. Ankita Bajpai, Advocates.
Mr. Dhruv Khanna and Mr. Akash Saini, Advocates.
For Respondents: -Ms. Charu Sangwan, Advocate.
O R D E R
15.04.2019─ The Appellant- 'Operational Creditor' filed an
application under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016
("I&B Code" for short) for initiation of 'Corporate Insolvency Resolution
Process' against 'M/s. Gulf Petronergy Pvt. Ltd.'- ('Corporate Debtor')
which having been dismissed by the impugned order dated 17th April,
2018 passed by the Adjudicating Authority (National Company Law
Tribunal), Bench-III, New Delhi, the present appeal has been preferred.
2. Learned counsel for the Appellant submits that one 'M/s. Petrolube
India Ltd.'- ('Corporate Debtor') assigned debt to one 'M/s. Gulf
Petronergy Pvt. Ltd.'. However, such submission cannot be accepted.
Contd/-............
-2-
3. A creditor is entitled to assign its debt to another person but a
debtor cannot assign a debt payable by it to a third party in absence of
any provision to assign debt of a debtor. This apart, as we find that there
is pre-existence of dispute due to which the application under Section 9
is not maintainable, we are not inclined to interfere with the impugned
order dated 17th April, 2018. The appeal is dismissed. No costs.
(Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya) Chairperson
(Justice A.I.S. Cheema) Member(Judicial)
(Kanthi Narahari) Member(Technical) Ar/g
Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 251 of 2018
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