Dismissed

Itochu India Pvt. Ltd. v. Mr. Kapil Gupta & Ors.

Delhi HC13 Feb 2024CCP(CO.)/3/2019

Case brief

AI extract

What is this about?

A contempt petition filed by ITOCHU India Pvt. Ltd. against the directors of a company in liquidation was dismissed. The Delhi High Court held that no proceedings could be initiated against the directors in their personal capacity due to the moratorium under Section 14 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

What did the court decide?

Contempt petition dismissed without prejudice as no proceedings can be initiated against directors in personal capacity during the moratorium period.

Itochu India Pvt. Ltd. Vs Mr. Kapil Gupta & Ors. — Company and Corporate | Delhi HC (2024)

¶1

$~7

¶2

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

¶3

- CCP(CO.) 3/2019

¶4

ITOCHU INDIA PVT. LTD. ..... Petitioner Through: Mr. Preet Pal Singh, Advocate.

¶5

versus

¶6

MR. KAPIL GUPTA & ORS. ..... Respondents Through: None.

¶7

CORAM:

¶8

HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE DHARMESH SHARMA

¶9

O R D E R

¶10

% 13.02.2024

¶11

None appeared for the respondent when the matter was called.

¶12

As is evident, the respondent/Company has gone into liquidation and consequent to the direction passed by the NCLT, an IRP has already been appointed. The present contempt petition can conveniently be disposed of as it involves trivial issues of law and facts.

¶13

Petitioner, who is seeking initiation of contempt proceedings under Sections 10, 11 and 12 of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 against respondent Nos.1 to 3, who are the Managing Director/General Managers of respondent/Company (in liquidation) on account of failure of Mr. Om Joshi i.e., respondent No.3 for not honouring the undertaking given in this Court on 18.08.2017 pursuant to Memorandum of Understanding (‘MoU’), arrived at between the parties before the Delhi High Court Mediation and Conciliation Centre.

¶14

A perusal of the record shows that the matter was settled in

¶15

This is a digitally signed order.

¶16

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 17/12/2024 at 15:21:36

¶17

mediation for a total sum of Rs.1.47 Crore for which 12 post-dated cheques have been issued and the last of which was payable by 05.07.2018.

¶18

It is submitted by the learned counsel for the petitioner that only two installments were paid by 05.10.2017, and thereafter, no payments have been made by the respondents. Learned counsel for the petitioner referring to Section 2(b) of the Contempt of Courts Act, 1971 has pointed out that a willful disobedience of any undertaking given to the Court amounts to a civil contempt.

¶19

I am afraid that no relief of any nature sought can be granted to the petitioner. A perusal of the MoU dated 20.07.2017 would show that it was executed by respondent No.3/Mr. Om Joshi on behalf of respondent/company (in liquidation) in his personal capacity and not in the capacity of General Manager.

¶20

At the cost of repetition, the respondent/company has already been in the process of getting liquidated in the pending proceedings before the NCLT and the IRP has also been appointed. It was also pointed out that the petitioner has filed its claim before the NCLT.

¶21

In view of the fact that the moratorium has kicked-in pursuant to the directions passed under Section 14 of the Insolvency of Bankruptcy Code, 2016, no proceedings can be allowed to be initiated against the directors in their personal capacity.

¶22

The contempt petition is dismissed without prejudice.

¶23

DHARMESH SHARMA, J.

¶24

FEBRUARY 13, 2024/ck

¶25

This is a digitally signed order.

¶26

The authenticity of the order can be re-verified from Delhi High Court Order Portal by scanning the QR code shown above. The Order is downloaded from the DHC Server on 17/12/2024 at 15:21:36

Itochu India Pvt. Ltd. v. Mr. Kapil Gupta & Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

Itochu India Pvt. Ltd. v. Mr. Kapil Gupta & Ors.

Case brief

What is this about?

What did the court decide?

What the court decided

A compact analysis

Issues for consideration

Statutes considered

Parties & counsel

Coram

Case details

Similar cases

Shri Vinay Gupta & Anr. Vs Smt. Shabana Begum

Jitender Bhutani Vs Rajasthan Marbles

Shripad Manikrao Khalikar Vs Rajinder Pal @ Kuku & Ors.

Deborah Bhatia Vs Hemant Kumar Bhatia

M/S Galaxy Nirmaan Private Limited Vs Kanti Prasad Agarwal & Ors.

Images Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. Vs Magnum Interiors Pvt.Ltd.