MUMBAI: The ministry of corporate affairs on Monday welcomed the NCLAT stay on all the proceedings against debt-laden IL&FS and other group companies and said the priority is to pay salaries and complete ongoing projects, rather than repaying large debt. “IL&FS has to be run and the required funding should be given. It has nearly 4,500 employees, who need to be paid salaries. It has also taken projects both in India and abroad.
We need to fulfil all obligations of critical projects or legal issues will arise. After that only we can talk about repayment, that too on the basis of seniority,” corporate affairs secretary Injeti Srinivas said. “If we use liquidity for repayment, then we can’t go forward. Therefore, the moratorium is needed and NCLAT has given us a temporarily relief,” he said.
The government had requested NCLAT to restrain other creditors of IL&FS from filing suits in the case of non-repayment of loans. “We got the relief we wanted. It heard our petition and considered both the economic as well as public interest involved in IL&FS. It has stayed the NCLT order and as an interim measure, have approved all our prayers including that of a moratorium,” said Srinivas. Srinivas said SFIO will look into allegation of corporate fraud and syphoning of the money by the past management of IL&FS. The ED will also step in if money laundering is found.
