SABYASACHI BHATTACHARYYA,J. - (1.) The Court: 1. The petitioner no.1 is a company. Petitioner no.2 is a Managing Director of petitioner no.1. The company is engaged in the production and sale of tea products and other business activities. Facing shortage of funds regarding tea business, the petitioners approached respondent no.2 (UCO Bank) for grant of credit facilities. On October 5, 2013, respondent no.2 approved Rs. 3.50 crore towards Fund Based Working Capital Limits, Rs. 0.5 crore towards Non-Fund Based Working Capital Limits and Rs. 4.2875 crore towards Term Loan. The petitioners approached respondent no.2 again for sanction of a fresh Term Loan against security of a residential property, which was sanctioned on November 1, 2016 to the extent of Rs. 2.4 crore.
(2.) When petitioner no.1, by a letter dated January 17, 2017, submitted a fresh proposal to the respondent no.2-Bank for review of the credit limits, the respondent no.2-Bank informed the petitioner no.1, vide letter dated February 3, 2017 that the account of petitioner no.1 had been classified as Non-Performing Asset (NPA) on January 31, 2017.
(3.) Subsequently, respondent no.2 issued a notice under Section 13(2) of the Securitisation and Reconstruction of Financial Assets and Enforcement of Security Interest Act, 2002 (the SARFAESI Act). By a letter dated July 23, 2018, respondent no.2 informed petitioner no.1 that the Competent Authority had decided to refer the loan account of petitioner no.1 to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC). On January 21, 2019, respondent no.2 issued a notice under Section 13(4) of the SARFAESI Act. Several correspondences were exchanged between the petitioner no.1 and respondent no.2-Bank in the meantime.;