Supreme Court stayed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's order approving the payment of 158.9 crores by Riju Raveendran to BCCI (Image: Byju's.com)

The Supreme Court on Wednesday stayed the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT)’s order approving the payment of 158.9 crore by Riju Raveendran to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on behalf of Byju’s setting the insolvency proceedings initiated by BCCI.

According to the reports, the Solicitor General stated that this was the first time that a CJI’s court order was passed without hearing the opposite side. However, the bench said that the order was considered ‘unconscionable.’ The Supreme Court disregarded repeated requests by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to present arguments on behalf of BCCI before staying the NCLAT order. Instead, a bench of CJI D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed BCCI to deposit the money it received (158.9 crore) into a separate escrow account.

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The senior advocate AM Singhvi attempted multiple times, without success, to present arguments against the stay of the NCLAT order sans hearing the opposite side as was filed a caveat to prevent US-based creditor by Byju Raveendran from Glas Trust Company LLC from obtaining an ex-parte order from the SC. Under the Bankruptcy Code (IBC), BCCI approved NCLT over a nonremittal of Rs. 158.9 crore by Byju’s platform Think & learn. Later, On July 16 the Bengaluru bench ordered the initiation of corporate insolvency proceedings against the firm which was valued at $22 billion but fell into null after the pandemic.

Earlier this month, the ed-tech app Byju’s founder Byju Ravindran’s brother Riju Ravindran has been ordered to pay $10000 (Rs 8,00000) per day until he finds $533 million that the company is accused of concealing from the US lenders. It was said that the tussle began in 2022 and made way for disputes over the missing cash. A judge stated that Riju Ravindran has to pay $10,000 every day until he assists in locating the missing amount given by the US lenders.

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The judge called for Riju Ravindran’s lawyer to make sure that the clients are present at the court or attend at least a hearing next month. Since 2022, Byju’s company has borrowed around $1.2 billion from the US money lenders. The lenders said that the case is approaching financial default and has not met the deadline policy missing financial agreements.

The struggling start-up Byju’s by Byju Raveendran once created momentum and gradually drained its health and cut to zero in the finances. He was accused of mismanagement by other investors who were dissatisfied with the company’s performance. Companies like Prosus Ventures and Peak XV Partners pulled up stakes over a fray with Byju Raveendran last year.