Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed initiation of insolvency proceedings against Videocon’s former chairman and MD Venugopal Dhoot for defaulting on loans of Rs 6,158 crore, as a personal guarantor of two group companies.Admitting a plea from State Bank of India (SBI), NCLT said Venugopal Dhoot has “committed defaults in repayment of loan amount” granted by the financial creditor. “Venugopal Nandlal Dhoot, personal guarantor to Videocon Industries Ltd and Videocon Telecommunications Ltd has also committed default in repayment of the loan facility demanded by the financial creditor after invocation of the personal guarantee,” said an order passed by NCLT on April 8.The Mumbai bench of the insolvency tribunal has also appointed Asish Narayan as a resolution professional and directed him to issue a public notice within seven days of passing this order on the website of the NCLT.“The Resolution Professional shall submit the repayment plan along with his report on the plan to this authority within a period of 21 days from the last date of submission of claims, as provided under Section 106,” said NCLT. Under Section 95 of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC), insolvency proceedings are initiated against a person, after being “satisfied that Corporate Debtor (Videocon) has committed default in repayment of loan amount granted by the financial creditor and personal guarantors have committed default in repayment of the loan facility”. Two other Dhoot brothers – Rajkumar Nandlal Dhoot and Pradeep Nandlal Dhoot – are already facing insolvency proceedings. Agencies
