Under Section 410 of the Companies Act, 2013, the Central Government of India established the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT). Began on June 1, 2016, the tribunal has considered appeals from orders of the National Company Law Tribunal. The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has granted the Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India (FHRAI), a permission to intervene on behalf of hotels in the OYO unit bankruptcy case before the tribunal, the industry organisation said on Monday. FHRAI stated in a statement that the application was filed on behalf of its Indian member hotels, who are operational creditors and are suffering greatly as a result of OYO’s non-payment of debt. The FHRAI will be able to make oral arguments on June 2, 2021, according to the tribunal. It also stated that the overall claims filed against OYO with Interim Resolution Professional (IRP) is equal to Rs 200 crore.
“As the applicant’s counsel, we’d like to make it clear that the NCLAT does not accept interveners filing anything in writing. Any assertion to the contrary is false” the attorney for applicant Rakesh Yadav, who had brought the lawsuit against OYO at NCLT, stated Lexport Founder and Managing Partner Srinivas Kotni. Former director of the suspended board of Oyo Hotels and Homes Pvt Ltd Anuj Tejpal, who is represented by Khaitan & Co Partner Jeevan Ballav Panda before the NCLAT, stated the applications seeking to intervene in the abovementioned appeal have yet to be heard, let alone being approved and have no validity. “The Hon’ble NCLAT also did not enable any intervener to file any written submissions, save to make an oral statement to justify why they should be permitted to intervene at all,” he added.
According to FHRAI Vice President Gurbaxish Singh Kohli, the FHRAI has filed an application with the NCLAT on behalf of aggrieved hotels and restaurants across India who have filed claims with the IRP. The union also mentioned in its application to the tribunal that a number of hotelier lawsuits against OYO are now proceeding in various courts, according to the statement. “OYO’s operation is running through a tangle of more than a dozen subsidiary companies with hotel contracts. Hundreds of hotels have complained payment failures and other unethical business practises by OYO, according to FHRAI statistics” Pradeep Shetty, FHRAI’s Jt Hon Secretary said.
An OYO representative strongly denied the allegations “This is in line with FHRAI’s false and bad advertising aimed at misleading the country’s small hoteliers. Given the terrible situation created by Covid 2.0, this is extremely shocking.” “They deliberately misrepresent the views and directives of India’s esteemed courts. We have no additional remarks at this time because the case is pending” according to the spokesperson. On April 8, OYO announced that the NCLAT had placed a delay on the creation of a committee of creditors in its subsidiary OYO Hotels and Homes Pvt Ltd., insolvency and bankruptcy proceedings (OHHPL).
