# in the matter of Bank of New York Mellon London Branch Vs Zenith Infotech Ltd. Civil Appeal No. 3055 of 2017

> SC judgment dated 2017-02-21. Citation: TCN-2017-SC-00021. The case involves a civil appeal against the order of the High Court of Delhi regarding the…

- **Court:** SC
- **Order date:** 21 Feb 2017
- **Citation:** TCN-2017-SC-00021
- **Category:** IBC
- **Source page:** https://caseease.in/cases/ibc/supreme-court-of-india/bank-of-new-york-mellon-london-branch-vs-zenith-infotech-ltd-civil-appeal-no-305-7fbd64a2

## Summary

### Background

The case involves a civil appeal against the order of the High Court of Delhi regarding the maintainability of a reference filed by Zenith Infotech Limited before the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under Section 15 of the Sick Industrial Companies Act (SICA). The reference was initially rejected by the Registrar of the Board, a decision upheld by the Secretary and Chairman of the Board. Meanwhile, a winding-up petition against Zenith Infotech was admitted by the High Court of Bombay, leading to a conflict between the proceedings under SICA and the winding-up process. The High Court of Delhi held that the Registrar lacked the power to adjudicate whether a company is an industrial company, and the reference was still pending. The Supreme Court

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## Facts

Bank of New York Mellon, London Branch, is the appellant. Zenith Infotech Limited is the respondent. Zenith Infotech Limited filed a reference with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under Section 15 of the Sick Industrial Companies Act (SICA). The Registrar of the BIFR rejected the reference on August 12, 2013, stating that Zenith Infotech was not an industrial company under Section 3(e) and 3(f) of SICA. Zenith Infotech appealed to the Secretary of the Board, which was dismissed on September 13, 2013. A further appeal to the Chairman of the Board was also dismissed. On July 30, 2013, a winding-up petition against Zenith Infotech was admitted by the High Court of Bombay. The order of admission was affirmed by the Division Bench in appeal. The

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## Issues and analysis

### Issue 1: Whether the Registrar and Secretary of the Board had the power and jurisdiction to refuse …

**Ratio:** The power to scrutinize an application prior to registration and thereafter to register

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**Reasoning:** The Court reasoned that the regulations framed under SICA vest the Registrar or Secretary

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**Interpretation:** The interpretation of the regulations under SICA indicates a distinction

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**Application:** In this case, the Registrar's rejection of the reference based on the

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## Parties

- **Judges:** Ranjan…; ABHAY MANOHAR…
- **Appellants:** BANK OF NEW YORK…
- **Respondents:** ZENITH INFOTECH…

## Timeline

- **2013-07-23 — Reference…**: Zenith Infotech Ltd. filed a Reference before the Board for Industrial and Financial…
- **2013-08-12 — Reference R…**: The Board rejected the reference on the ground that Zenith Infotech was not an industrial…

## Legal provisions

- [Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, Section 3(e) — Definitions](https://caseease.in/legal-provisions/insolvency-and-bankruptcy-code-2016/section-3)

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