In Brief
Kaledonia Jute and Fibres challenged a High Court order refusing to transfer a winding-up petition to the NCLT. The company was ordered wound up in 2016, but the winding-up was kept in abeyance. Kaledonia later filed an insolvency petition before the NCLT claiming to be a creditor owed Rs. 32 lakhs. The Supreme Court held that any creditor of a company in winding-up is a 'party' to the proceedings and may seek transfer to the NCLT under Section 434(1)(c) of the Companies Act, 2013, regardless of the stage at which the petition stands. The restriction on the timing of transfer in the Companies (Transfer of Pending Proceedings) Rules does not apply to party-initiated transfers. The Court set aside the High Court's order and directed transfer of the winding-up proceeding to the NCLT."
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