NCLT posts SBI, Anil Ambani case hearing to June 30

MUMBAI: A dedicated bankruptcy court has posted State Bank of India’s plea against Anil Ambani to June 30, in a case where the state-owned lender is trying to recover loans taken by the bankrupt Reliance Communications, which the former billionaire had personally guaranteed.

Last week, SBI had moved the insolvency court to recover more than Rs 1,200 crore from Ambani under the personal guarantee clause of the bankruptcy law.

The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday allowed the lender more time to file its rejoinder to Ambani’s response. The bench was presided over by judicial member Mohammed Ajmal and technical member Ravikumar Duraisamy.

The public sector lender moved the NCLT under Section 97(3) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), seeking its intervention to direct the insolvency board to nominate a resolution professional (RP) to assess and submit a report on the assets owned by Ambani. Subsequently, the tribunal granted time till June 18 to the lawyers representing Ambani to file their reply. SBI will now file its rejoinder before June 30.

Senior counsel Venkatesh Dhond along with Ryan D’Souza is representing SBI, while Anil Ambani is represented by senior advocate Harish Salve.