Territorial Jurisdiction Of NCLT Cannot Be Taken Away By Agreement Between The Parties: NCLAT

[27 April 2022] The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) Principal bench comprising of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Ms. Shreesha Merla in the case of Anil Kumar Malhotra v. M/s Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. held that the territorial jurisdiction of NCLT to decide case under Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 cannot be taken away by the agreement between the parties.
Suspended director of Corporate Debtor filed an appeal under Section 61 of the Code before NCLAT against the order dated 18.02.2022 of NCLT Principal Bench, New Delhi wherein it has initiated the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process of Corporate Debtor. t was contended by the Appellant that NCLT New Delhi has no jurisdiction to entertain the Section 7 application against the Corporate Debtor as clause 24.12 of the facility agreement between the parties specifically confers the jurisdiction upon the courts of Mumbai in respect of any matter arising out of facility agreement.