The National Company Law Tribunal has admitted an insolvency petition filed against Future Enterprises Ltd and also ordered the commencement of insolvency proceedings against the company.

Jitender Kothari has been appointed as the resolution professional, the company said in an exchange filing on Wednesday.

The Mumbai Bench of NCLT admitted the petition filed by Foresight Innovation Pvt Ltd which is claiming dues of around ₹1 crore. Last year, another trade creditor Retail Detailz India Pvt Ltd had filed a bankruptcy plea claiming ₹4 crore in default. There are several other trade creditors who have filed bankrupty cases against the company for non-payment of dues for similar small amounts. The company has been regularly failing to repay dues on maturing debt.

Accounts frozen

In its ruling, the Tribunal said more than two-and-a-half months were granted to Future Enterprises to settle the dues but it has failed to repay them . The company, while admitting the ‘debt’ and ‘default’ said it could not repay the dues as its accounts had been frozen. The bankruptcy court said no valid defence has been put forth by Future Enterprises to bolster its case and dismiss the petition.

“In view of the above facts and circumstances, this Bench has no option except to admit the above company petition,” it ruled.

In September last year, the Central Bank of India, the lead banker to the company, had appointed JC Kabra & Associates to undertake a forensic audit of the accounts of the company.

Future Retail, the flagship of the Future Group, is already undergoing bankruptcy proceedings.

The Future Group, with over $4-billion of debt, had attempted a $3.4-billion rescue deal with Reliance Industries, under which the Mukesh-Ambani controlled conglomerate was to have acquired core parts of the retail group founded by Kishore Biyani. However, the deal fell through after Future Group’s secured creditors rejected the deal. The US-based e-commerce giant Amazon, which invested in a Future Group promoter entity in 2019, had also blocked the deal.

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