ICICI files insolvency petition against Jaiprakash Associates

NEW DELHI: ICICI Bank has filed an insolvency petition against Jaiprakash Associates (JAL) before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT).
The move comes a month after the Supreme Court paved the way for action against the parent of Jaypee Infratech that is yet to deliver flats and villas to nearly 25,000 buyers, some of whom had made the bookings close to a decade ago.
NCLT's Allahabad bench, which heard the petition, has directed ICICI Bank to serve a notice on the company and file an affidavit within three days.The bench has also asked the debtor company JAL to file its reply within seven days and fixed the next hearing on September 17. "As is clear from the order itself that no notice of the petition has been served on the company," JAL said.
The petition has come as a major setback for JAL, which was trying to sell its assets to settle dues. However, as the company had defaulted in servicing the remaining debt of around Rs 10,646 crore, the bank has decided to file the petition. JAL has assets of Rs 38,282 crore against total liabilities of Rs 10,646 crore as on June 30, 2018. In the real estate segment, the company had assets of Rs 12,808 crore against the liabilities of Rs 10,615 crore.
On August 9, while ordering restart of the corporate insolvency resolution process against Jaypee Infratech, the Supreme Court had allowed banks to file a similar petition against JAL.