SC dismisses Raveendran’s plea against NCLAT

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea of Byju Raveendran, the promoter of Think and Learn Private Limited, that operates ed-Tech firm Byju, challenging an NCLAT order which has mandated that the settlement of the BCCI’s claim be placed before the Committee of Creditors.

A bench of Justices JB Pardiwala and KV Viswanathan dismissed the appeal against the April 17 order of the Chennai bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) and asked senior counsel Navin Pahwa, representing Raveendran in the matter, to proceed further.

In its April 17 order, the NCLAT said the approval of the Committee of Creditors (CoC) was necessary for the application filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to withdraw the insolvency proceedings against Byju’s.

The top court noted that in July, it dismissed the appeals filed by the BCCI and Riju Raveendran, the younger brother of Byju Raveendran and co-founder of Byju, against the same NCLAT order.

Justice Pardiwala asked Pahwa what was wrong with the view taken by the NCLAT that the apex court’s judgment would apply, in which it was stated that the CoC was constituted during the pendency of the proceedings and had allowed the parties to seek remedies relating to the withdrawal and settlement of claims “in compliance with the legal framework governing the withdrawal of the CIRP”.

Pahwa contended that the earlier petition in the apex court was filed at the pre-CoC stage and the panel was formed during the pendency of that matter.

The bench, however, disagreed with his contentions, saying, “The moment we accept your argument, we frustrate the entire process.”

Pahwa said the petitioner has paid the BCCI from his own pocket but now, the whole complexion of the dispute has changed. The insolvency dispute revolves around a settlement between Think and Learn Private Limited and the BCCI, which had initiated the insolvency process over unpaid sponsorship dues on July 16, 2024.

A settlement was reached on July 31, 2024, and the entire claim of the BCCI was paid by Riju Raveendran.

On August 2, 2024, the NCLAT accepted the settlement and permitted the withdrawal of the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP), but this order was later stayed by the apex court on August 14, 2024.

In the present appeal, Raveendran had contended that the NCLT, on January 29, 2025, treated the settlement as post-CoC and directed that the withdrawal application be placed before the panel, which was upheld by the NCLAT.