RCom plea against insolvency to be heard by NCLAT on Tuesday

New Delhi: The NCLAT will hear on Tuesday the plea of Reliance Communications which has challenged NCLT's decision to start insolvency proceedings against it on a petition by Swedish telecom equipment major Ericsson.

The plea of Anil Ambani-run RCom was mentioned on Monday before the bench of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), seeking an urgent hearing on the issue. It has directed that the matter be listed for hearing on Tuesday.

"The appeals filed in the NCLAT against the NCLT orders admitting RCOM, RITL and RTL to the debt resolution process and appointment of the Interim Resolution Professional, were mentioned for urgent hearing today," RCom said in a regulatory filing.

It added: "The NCLAT has fixed the appeals for hearing on Tuesday, May 29, 2018." Major lenders, including China Development Bank, State Bank of India and Standard Chartered Bank, have been formally impleaded to the appeal proceedings before NCLAT, it added.

Last week, RCom had approached the appellate tribunal along with its subsidiaries - Reliance Telecom Limited (RTL) and Reliance Infratel Limited (RITL) . On May 15, the Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had admitted an insolvency petition filed by Ericsson against Reliance Communications and two of its subsidiaries seeking to recover unpaid dues.

Ericsson, which had signed a 7-year deal in 2014 to operate and manage RCom's nationwide telecom network, had alleged that it had not been paid the dues.

Last September, the Swedish company had filed a petition in the NCLT's Mumbai bench seeking liquidation of the telecom operator to recover Rs 1,150 crore that RCom allegedly owes it.