Whether an application filed under Section 7 of IBC is maintainable, having been filed by Financial Creditor against Corporate Debtor as well as Corporate Guarantor simultaneously on the same set of debt? | Whether judgment rendered in Dr. Vishnu Kumar Agarwal v. Piramal Enterprises Ltd. is to be followed? – Piramal Capital & Housing Finance Ltd. Vs. Hydric Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd. – NCLAT New Delhi
In this case, an application filed u/s 7 of IBC against the guarantor was dismissed by the Adjudicating Authority by relying upon an order passed by Hon’ble NCLAT in the case of Dr. Vishnu Kumar Agarwal v. Piramal Enterprises Ltd. (2019) ibclaw.in 16 NCLAT holding that the application filed against the principal borrower is not maintainable against the corporate guarantor on the same set of debt.
Hon’ble NCLAT held that answer to this issue has already been given by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of Laxmi Pat Surana vs. Union of India & Anr. (2021) ibclaw.in 53 SC which has been followed by this Court in the case of Naresh Kumar Aggarwal v. CFM Asset Reconstruction Pvt. Ltd. and Anr. (2023) ibclaw.in 322 NCLAT in which this Court has held that “the scheme of IBC, in view of law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in ‘Laxmi Pat Surana Vs. Union of India & Anr., we are not persuaded to follow judgment of this Tribunal in Dr. Vishnu Kumar Agarwal (Supra)”.
