BENGALURU: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Bengaluru bench, on Tuesday admitted an insolvency petition filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)against edtech firm Byju's over a Rs 158 crore debt.
Both BCCI and Byju's entered into a team sponsor agreement in 2019, and in 2022, Byju's made payment in full only against one invoice for the year 2022-2023. The edtech firm failed to make payments against the remaining invoices raised by the BCCI for the financial year 2022-23.
"It is submitted that the Respondent (Think & Learn, parent company of Byju's) continues to avail the Services from the Petitioner (BCCI) up until March 2023, and for which the Petitioner raised invoices which were never disputed by the Respondent. It is also undisputed that the Respondent advertised its logo in the cricket matches held up until March 2023 as provided in the Agreement. Moreover, a written contract is not sine qua non for an operational debt and consequently for initiating a proceeding under Section 9 of the IBC," the order stated.
The NCLT also dismissed an application by the edtech firm to refer the matter to arbitration.
"It is abundantly clear as laid down by the Hon’ble Apex Court that the Adjudicating Authority has to either reject or Admit the Application and cannot postulate a third option. In this matter, the application U/s 9 of the IBC has been admitted by the Order passed today, therefore, the application for referring the matter for Arbitration is not maintainable," the order said.