Mumbai: NCLT Directs RP To Verify Omkar Homebuyers' Claims Within 15 Days, Declines Forensic Audit Plea

Mumbai, June 25: The Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has directed the Resolution Professional (RP) handling the insolvency proceedings of Manomay Ventures Pvt Ltd, an Omkar Group entity, to complete verification of all pending homebuyer claims within 15 days while disposing of an application filed by a homebuyers’ association seeking a forensic audit and scrutiny of claims admitted during the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP).

Homebuyers Seek Forensic Audit

The order was passed on an application filed by the Omkar Project Home Buyers Association, representing 329 homebuyers holding 384 units in the “Lawns & Beyond” (Phases 1 to 3) and “Sereno A and B” projects. The association had sought a comprehensive forensic audit of the corporate debtor’s financial transactions from 2012-13 onwards.

The homebuyers, represented by Advocate Sulaiman Bhimani of the Mumbai-based firm Law Suits, alleged that the claim of the ARC had risen from approximately Rs 868 crore to more than Rs 5,400 crore without adequate transparency.

They contended that the ARC exercised overwhelming control over the Committee of Creditors (CoC), while homebuyers were left with a significantly smaller voting share.

The applicants further alleged that the RP had restricted the scope of a transaction audit to the period between 2022 and 2024 despite the project’s financial activities dating back to 2013.

NCLT Issues Directions

The tribunal, however, observed that allegations relating to misrepresentation by the erstwhile management and the sale of units on allegedly false premises could be addressed under criminal law and did not, by themselves, warrant a forensic audit within the CIRP framework.

Accordingly, the tribunal directed the RP to complete verification of all pending claims within 15 days.

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On the allegation that the ARC’s claim had been inflated, the NCLT observed that homebuyers, being a class of creditors, are required to act through their authorised representative in the CoC.

The Bench held that such a representative would have the locus to challenge the claim of another creditor. Nevertheless, it directed the RP to examine the ARC’s claim in the light of the objections raised by the applicants and take appropriate action.

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