Binani Industries liable to be wound up: Calcutta high court
Calcutta high court passes order after Binani Industries defaulted on paying Rs5.65 crore to advertising agency Milestone Brandcom
Mumbai: In a major setback to Binani Industries Ltd, the holding company of Binani Cement Ltd, the Calcutta high court has ordered for its winding up for having defaulted on paying Rs5.65 crore to an advertising agency Milestone Brandcom Pvt Ltd.
In the order passed on Wednesday, the court said, “The debt of the company towards the petitioning creditor, to my mind is indisputable. The company has no defence whatsoever to the claim of the petitioning creditor. It is liable to be wound up."
The case pertained to a public campaign that Milestone Brandcom ran for Binani from 2009 to 2016. The high court has also ordered the company to pay interest at 18% per annum to Milestone.
Lawyers Mint spoke to say the only recourse Binani now has to avoid a winding up is to pay up Milestone and make a joint appeal to the court before it appoints an official liquidator.
“Binani has now time till December 4, when the court will next hear the matter, to pay Milestone and convince it to tell the court that it doesn’t seek a winding up anymore," a senior lawyer said on the condition of anonymity.
What’s interesting about the Calcutta high court decision is that it comes at a time when Binani Cement is facing insolvency proceedings at the Kolkata bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). Lawyers said in case Binani Industries fails to stop its winding up, the insolvency proceedings against Binani Cements will also get affected and so would be its potential acquisition by one of the several suitors that are reported to be interested in it.
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