Tanvi Pilane
Published on: March 11, 2022 at 9:48 IST
The Issue of whether the Claim of the Licensor for the Payment of License Fee for Free Use and Occupation of Immovable Premises for Commercial Purposes is a claim of ‘Operational Debt’ within the scope of Section 5(21) of the Code was referred by a Principal Bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) containing Justice Alok Bhushan, the Chairperson and Technical Members Dr. Ashok Kumar Mishra and Dr. Alok Srivastava in Jaipur Trade Expocentre Pvt. Ltd. v. Metro Jet Airways Training Pvt. Ltd to a larger Bench of five Members for consideration.
Two questions were referred to the ‘Larger Bench’ of three Judges for consideration by the Judgment of 7th March 2022 of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
The questions raised were as follows:
- Whether the Judgment of this Tribunal in Company Appeal (AT) (Ins.) No. 331 of 2019 in the matter of Mr. M. Ravindranath Reddy Vs. Mr. G. Kishan & Ors.
- Whether claim of the Licensor for payment of License Fee for use and occupation of Immovable Premises for commercial purposes is a claim of ‘Operation Debt’ within the meaning of Section 5(21) of the Code.
Doubts were expressed by the two Judge Bench on 7th March 2022 on the Rightness of the Judgment in the case of Mr. M. Ravidranath Reddy Vs. Mr. G. Kishan and Ors.
Similar doubts were expressed on the Judgment in Mr. M. Ravindranath Reddy Vs. Mr. G. Kishan & Ors by the Three-Judge Bench on the grounds that the Judgment of the Supreme Court in Mobilox Innovations (P) Ltd. Vs. Kirusa Software (P) Ltd. was not noticed by it.
The case was referred to a Larger Bench for the consideration of questions framed on 7th March 2022 by the Appellate Tribunal which placed the matter before the Chairperson to constitute a Larger Bench.
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Tribunals of India
What is National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)?