N. SUBRAMANIAN Vs. ARUNA HOTELS LTD. AND ORS.

JUDGEMENT

(1.) I.A. No. 163654 of 2019 for intervention is dismissed.

(2.) The present appeal is filed by an erstwhile employee of the Corporate Debtor, i.e. the Respondent No.1 Company. The Appellant joined the Corporate Debtor as a Personal Assistant on 01.01.1983, and over the years received several promotions, including to Manager-Administration. His final designation before he left from service in 2013 was Public Relations Manager.

(3.) This appeal arises from an application that was made by the Appellant under Section 9 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 'IBC' dated 21.07.2017. In this application, the Appellant averred that a sum of Rs.1.87 Crores was owed to him, being the arrears of salary from the year 1998 till 2013 when he retired from service, and that several acknowledgments of liability have been given of the arrears payable, the last of which was by a letter dated 30.09.2014 by the erstwhile Managing Director of the Company. The Corporate Debtor replied to the aforesaid Section 9 application denying any liability and, in any case, stated that claims that are made by the Appellant are time-barred. The National Company Law Tribunal 'NCLT' in its judgment dated 17.11.2017, after setting out the facts and, in particular, setting out the acknowledgement of liability letter dated 30.09.2014, went on to state that the principal amount of Rs. 1.06 Crores being admitted, a case has been made out for admission. It also referred to a certain 'payment voucher' (which was relied upon by the learned counsel for the Company), stating that this voucher was merely a red-herring, and in any case could not be relied upon. According to the NCLT, even a cursory look at the said voucher by the naked eye would show that the name of the Appellant has been filled by somebody different from the person who has filled ' in a different handwriting ' that the amount paid is in 'full and final' settlement of the arrears of salary. It was also held that this payment voucher was only proof of payment of arrears of salary of 6 months' payment @ Rs.35,000/- p.m. which was not paid on the due dates, but which was paid in one go. In any event, the NCLT held that this voucher was not part of the claim of the Appellant.