UPHEALTH HOLDINGS, INC. Vs. SYED SABAHAT AZIM

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The revisional application is directed against an order dated January 17, 2024, passed by the Learned Commercial Judge at Rajarhat, North 24, Parganas, in Title Suit. No. 17 of 2023.

(2.) Title Suit. No. 17 of 2023 is an anti-arbitration suit. During the pendency of the said suit, the petitioner/defendant No.1 filed an application under Sec. 151 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, (hereinafter referred to as the said application) with a prayer for stay of further proceedings of the suit, with liberty to mention, upon expiry of the moratorium in the U.S. Bankruptcy proceeding. In the alternative, prayer was made for adjournment of the said suit for 180 days.

(3.) The learned Judge rejected the said application, inter alia, holding that the moratorium order of the U.S Bankruptcy Court was not applicable in India. U.S.A had not been declared as a reciprocating territory for the purpose of Sec. 44A Code of Civil Procedure. The learned court further held that although the moratorium order of the U.S Bankruptcy Court was quite akin to Sec. 14 of the Indian Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC 2016), but the IBC 2016 was only applicable within the territory of India. In the absence of a Central Government notification in the Official Gazette declaring U.S.A to be a reciprocating territory, the moratorium order would not be automatically enforceable under Sec. 44A Code of Civil Procedure. The provisions of Sec. 13 and 14 of the Code of Civil Procedure, were also not applicable in the present factual matrix because the bankruptcy order was not passed in a proceeding between the parties to the suit. The said order of the learned Trial Judge has been assailed on various grounds.