JSA successfully represented National Asset Reconstruction Company Limited (NARCL) in the commencement of insolvency resolution proceedings against Mr. Yogesh Jogindernath Mehra and Mr. Ajay Jogindernath Mehra, personal guarantors of Wind World (India) Limited, before the Hon’ble National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench (NCLT).
Originally, State Bank of India (SBI) had filed Company Petition Nos. 251 and 252 of 2020 under Section 95 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC), claiming a total default amounting to ₹12,10,67,52,114.05. While the proceedings were ongoing, on 28 March 2024, SBI along with IDBI Bank Limited, Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank, Bank of Baroda, Bank of India, Central Bank of India, and Axis Bank Limited entered into a Joint Assignment Agreement with NARCL. Through this agreement, the assignors transferred their loans to NARCL along with all associated rights, title, and interest.
Following the assignment, NARCL substituted SBI in the pending proceedings and pursued the applications under Section 95 of the IBC. Key legal issues considered by the NCLT included:
- whether the application had been instituted by a duly authorized person though there was no board resolution authorizing the signatory to sign?
- whether, considering that the debt defaults dated back to 2015 and execution of Master Restructuring Agreement (MRA) was in 2015 ,were the proceedings before NCLT in 2020 barred by limitation?
- whether the action of NARCL ,which was unilateral and not a collective lender action, despite this being a case of consortium lending arrangement, was maintainable?
After extensive submissions by JSA on behalf of NARCL, as well as arguments from the counsel representing the personal guarantors and the advocate for the resolution professional, the NCLT held that:
- The 1987 Gazette notification issued under Regulation 76(1) read with regulation 77 of the State Bank of India General Regulations, framed under section 50 of the State Bank of India Act, 1995under the State Bank of India Act was sufficient to confer authority upon the signatory.
- Considering legal notice was issued in 2018, upon breaches immediately after the execution of the MRA, the date of default crystallized in 2018 and coupled with balance confirmations and debt acknowledgments in the financials, established 2018 as the date of default, thus the applications were within limitation.
- Section 95 of the IBC allowed NARCL to independently initiate proceedings despite the consortium lending structure.
Accordingly, the NCLT admitted the Section 95 applications against the personal guarantors on 28 July 2025, officially initiating the insolvency resolution process.
JSA Team:
The matter was led by Bijal H Chhatrapati, partner, with support from Siddharth Sinha, senior associate, as part of JSA’s corporate litigation team.
Bijal has an invaluable and rich experience in handling various types of litigations. The scope of his litigation expertise covers a wide range including corporate and commercial, intellectual property rights, arbitrations, writs under the Constitution of India, Admiralty.