NCLAT rejects insolvency plea against Voltas

New Delhi: Appellate tribunal NCLAT has rejected a plea against Voltas, which sought to initiate insolvency proceedings against the Tata Group firm by one of its operational creditors.

A two-member NCLAT bench has upheld the earlier orders of the Mumbai-bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had on May 27, 2025 rejected the petition on the grounds of a pre-existing dispute.

NCLAT upheld the findings of NCLT, saying it “has committed no mistake” in finding that the email chain between appellant Air Wave Technocrafts and Voltas “reflects ongoing disputes” regarding work certification, amounts, and supporting documentation.

“We see no reason to take a different view in the matter from that of the NCLT in rejecting the Section 9 application on valid grounds of pre-existing disputes. In result, we find no merit in the Appeal. We find no reasons to interfere with the impugned order. The Appeal is dismissed,” said NCLAT.

NCLAT order came over a petition filed by Air Wave Technocrafts, which was engaged by Voltas for providing services to their clients for operation and maintenance of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air-conditioning) systems located at various work sites. A running account was maintained with Voltas for this purpose. Elucidating on the payment mechanism, the Operational Creditor raised invoices for the payment for services rendered, supported by necessary documents like ESI/PF challans and Wages Register etc. to Voltas, which, after necessary verification, would forward these invoices/documents to their clients.

Once the clients released payments to Voltas, after making TDS deduction, the Tata group firm would in turn, release payments to the appellant after holding back some amount as retention money.

In the petition, it was submitted that Voltas later failed to discharge its payment obligations. Subsequent correspondence with Voltas regarding the outstanding invoices only yielded a response that the outstanding dues have been put up for commercial verification.

The operational creditor claimed a total debt of Rs 1.20 crore and sent a demand notice on February 17, 2024. However, Voltas did not make further payments and instead disputed the outstanding liability, including raising the issue of limitation. Following that, Air Wave Technocrafts filed a Section 9 application for initiation of Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process against Voltas before NCLT on August 29, 2024, which was dismissed on May 27, 2025.

This was subsequently challenged before the NCLAT.