NCLAT dismisses Riju Raveendran’s plea to exclude ₹158 crore BCCI settlement from creditors

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in Chennai has refused to provide temporary relief to Riju Raveendran, who is a director at Byju’s and the younger brother of its founder, Byju Raveendran. His request was to keep a ₹158 crore settlement with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) separate from the Committee of Creditors (CoC) handling Byju’s insolvency process.

Court decision and background

Byju’s is currently going through financial troubles and insolvency proceedings. The CoC is a group of creditors responsible for making key decisions regarding the company’s future. Riju Raveendran argued that the settlement with BCCI had already been finalized before the CoC was even formed. However, the Bengaluru bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) ruled that the ₹158 crore settlement must be presented before the CoC.

The CoC includes major lenders such as Glas Trust (a US-based financial firm) and Aditya Birla Finance. Glas Trust has a significant 99.41% voting power in the CoC because of its large claim of ₹11,432 crore. If Raveendran’s request had been approved, Byju’s might have found a way to exit the insolvency proceedings. However, the lenders strongly opposed this move.

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Next steps in the case

Earlier, on January 29, the NCLT had also ordered disciplinary action against Byju’s resolution professional (RP) and overturned his earlier decision to exclude Glas Trust and Aditya Birla Finance from the CoC. The NCLAT is now set to hear Riju Raveendran’s plea again on March 3, where further developments in the case will be discussed.