Authority: National Company Law Tribunal, Ahmedabad Bench Court-II (Mrs. Chitra Hankare, Member Judicial and Dr. V.G. Venkata Chalapathy, Member Technical)

Order Date: 09/07/2026

Case Overview

This application was filed by Mr. Sunil Kumar Agarwal, the Liquidator of Varia Engineering Works Private Limited (Corporate Debtor), under Section 54(1) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 read with Regulation 45(3) of the IBBI (Liquidation Process) Regulations, 2016, seeking dissolution of the corporate debtor.

The corporate debtor was incorporated on 14/02/2000 as a Non-Govt Company registered with ROC Ahmedabad, with authorized share capital of ₹176 crore and paid-up capital of ₹175.72 crore. Bank of Baroda filed an insolvency application (CP(IB) No. 149 of 2017) which was admitted on 21/12/2017, with Mr. Agarwal appointed as Interim Resolution Professional. As no resolution plans were received, the CoC decided to initiate liquidation with 90.61% majority voting in their 11th meeting on 12/09/2018. The NCLT passed the liquidation order on 07/08/2019, appointing Mr. Agarwal as Liquidator.

The Liquidator conducted multiple public auctions of the corporate debtor's assets, realizing a total of ₹61,11,18,522. Major auctions included: Land & Building at Vatva (₹6,24,00,000), Land at Bhayla Taluka (₹5,02,73,260), Land & Building at Bavla (₹30,01,00,000), Plant and Machinery-3 Machines (₹67,00,000), Plant and Machinery-Shed 5(1) (₹8,54,00,000), Plant & Machinery-Shed 5(2) (₹7,10,00,000), Office at Titanium (₹3,06,11,000), along with other recoveries including forfeiture of EMD (₹25,00,000), Adani Gas deposit (₹15,78,974), recovery from debtor (₹3,31,691), interest on FDR (₹6,71,746), Torrent Power deposit (₹1,81,762), scrap sale (₹1,13,280), and cash & gold coins from Himanshu Varia (₹17,56,809).

The proceeds were distributed to stakeholders as per Section 53 of the Code. The State Bank of India confirmed closure of the corporate debtor's bank account on 20/08/2025. The Income Tax Department had an admitted claim of ₹88.48 crore but appeared through counsel and submitted no objection to the dissolution on 12/05/2026. The Registrar of Companies (ROC) did not appear despite service of notice but submitted a report indicating outstanding charges in the names of various creditors.

Final Outcome

The tribunal rejected the dissolution application (IA(Dis.) 12/2025 in CP(IB) 149(AHM)2017) after noting that the ROC report indicated outstanding charges remained registered against the corporate debtor. Although the Stakeholders Consultation Committee (SCC) had approved the dissolution with 73.88% votes in favor during their 7th meeting on 29/08/2025, the tribunal found that the SCC members were not informed about the outstanding charges with ROC. The application was disposed of with liberty to file a fresh application after creditors take appropriate steps regarding the outstanding charges with the CoC.

Topics: Corporate Insolvency, Liquidation Process, Regulatory Compliance