NCLAT rejects tax claim against Reliance Communications filed for assessment year after initiation of insolvency

New Delhi: The NCLAT has set aside a petition filed by the state tax department claiming dues from Reliance Communications (RCom) observing that it was based on the assessment made after the initiation of insolvency resolution process against the debt-ridden firm.

A two-member NCLAT bench upheld the earlier order passed by the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had rejected the state tax department's second claim of Rs 6.10 crore.

Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) against RCom was initiated on June 22, 2019. The state tax department had filed two claims.

The first claim was filed on July 24, 2019 for Rs 94.97 lakh and a second claim was filed on November 15, 2021 for Rs 6.10 crore, which arose out of an assessment order dated August 30, 2021.

The NCLT had admitted the first claim, which was passed before the initiation of CIRP. However, it did not accept the claim which was based on an assessment order passed in 2021.

The Committee of Creditors (CoC) of RCom also approved the plan on March 2, 2020, and the subsequent claim was filed by the state tax department on November 15, 2021.

The said order was challenged by the state tax department before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), contending that NCLT ought to have accepted the entire claim.

However, it was also rejected by NCLAT observing that the subsequent claim was filed after the approval of the plan of CoC. It upheld the view taken by NCLT that delay in filing the second claim cannot be condoned.

"Apart from the reasons given by the Adjudicating Authority (NCLT), we are of the view that the claim which was on the basis of the assessment made subsequent to the initiation of CIRP could not have been admitted," said the NCLAT bench comprising Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Arun Baroka.

"We thus do not find any error in the order passed by the Adjudicating Authority partly allowing the application. There is no merit in the appeal. The appeal is dismissed," it further said.