MUMBAI:
Byju Raveendran
has moved a fresh writ petition in the
Karnataka high court
, seeking suspension of the National Company Law Tribunal’s (
NCLT
) order which allowed the initiation of insolvency proceedings against Byju’s, the
edtech startup
he founded more than a decade back. This is the second plea Raveendran has moved in the court against the tribunal’s order.
Through the earlier petition to the high court which was not admitted, Raveendran sought to challenge the validity of the
insolvency order
but the fresh appeal seeks suspension of the order until the
National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
(NCLT) takes up the matter. The case is supposed to be heard by the Chennai bench of the NCLAT on July 29. “The fresh writ petition filed today is an urgent one,” said a source.
Raveendran’s urgency is understood given the fact that he has lost control over the startup which was once valued at $22 billion and chased by storied investors who collectively infused more than $5 billion into the company. The NCLT appointed Pankaj Srivastava as the
interim resolution professional
who, after collation of all the claims received against the company, will form a committee of creditors. “Once the committee of creditors is formed, there is no going back,” said a company source. Raveendran had refused to let go of the company’s reins even after majority of the firm’s investors had voted to oust him as the CEO in February.
A section of the firm’s employees have already started the process of filing their claims with the interim resolution professional.
Acting on a plea filed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (
BCCI
) against the company over non-payment of dues amounting to Rs 159 crore, the Bengaluru bench of the NCLT last week admitted Byju’s parent Think & Learn to the corporate insolvency resolution process.
