The Chennai bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has stayed the admission of a corporate insolvency plea against cafe chain Cafe Coffee Day (CCD).
The Bengaluru bench had earlier admitted the plea which the Chennai bench stayed until the next hearing of the appeal filed by CCD's CEO Malavika Hegde, wife of the late founder VG Siddhartha. Malavika had revived the cafe chain after the company was plunged into a crisis following the suicide of Siddhartha in July 2019.
The interim order of the stay was passed on Friday morning by judicial member Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain and technical member Shreehsa Merla.
A notice was also issued to IndusInd Bank, the financial creditor on whose application the NCLT order was passed.
IndusInd Bank had earlier approached the NCLT alleging that CCD defaulted on a loan amount of over ₹94 crore. Based on the petition, the NCLT admitted the petition for bankruptcy.
"Since, we have found that there are arguable points involved in this appeal, therefore, we issue a formal notice to the respondents who is already on caveat ... List for hearing on 20th September, 2023. In the meanwhile, till the next date of hearing, operation of the impugned order shall remain stayed," stated the NCLAT order.
Advocates Pawan Jhabakh, Abhishek Raman and Jerin Asher Sojan of PH Arvindh Pandian Associates appeared on behalf of Malavika Hegde.