Supreme Court Pulls Up RP, CoC Of Xalta Food For Defaulting On ₹50.55 Lakh Monthly Compensatory Rent
Kirit Singhania
18 April 2026 4:23 PM IST
The Supreme Court on Thursday came down heavily on the Resolution Professional (RP) and Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Xalta Food and Beverages Pvt. Ltd. for failing to honour their statement on oath and resolution to pay monthly compensatory rent of about ₹50.55 lakh to the lessor, Prerna Singh, noting that despite such commitment, only partial payment of ₹33.83 lakh was made for April 2026.
A Bench of Justices J.B. Pardiwala and K.V. Viswanathan reprimanded the RP and the CoC for failing to honour their commitments, terming their conduct a “gross abuse of the process of law." The court observed:
“We are going to take a very strict view of this contumacious conduct of one and all. No one can take the Court for granted. This is nothing but gross abuse of the process of law.”
While indicating that appropriate action would be taken at a later stage, the court directed the RP and CoC to hand over vacant and peaceful possession of the premises within one week. It also authorised the Superintendent of Police, Hapur, Uttar Pradesh, to facilitate the process and directed that a report be filed before it once possession is taken. The court directed:
“However, today we are left with no other option but to direct the RP and the CoC respectively to handover vacant and peaceful possession of the premises within a period of one week from today. We authorize the Superintendent of Police, Hapur, the State of Uttar Pradesh, to facilitate taking over vacant possession of the premises from the RP and the CoC respectively. Once the possession is taken over, a report in that regard shall be filed before this Court by both the Superintendent of Police as well as by the appellant.”
These directions came while the Court was hearing appeals filed by Prerna Singh against the CoC and RP in relation to alleged non-compliance with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal's order dated January 31, 2019, which had directed payment of lease rent from December 1, 2018 on a monthly basis.
Background
The dispute arises from insolvency proceedings of Xalta Food and Beverages, where Prerna Singh had leased two warehouses to the debtor. After commencement of CIRP on July 25, 2018, the CoC and RP continued to occupy the premises but defaulted on rent payments. The NCLT on December 21, 2018 and NCLAT on January 31, 2019 directed payment of rent from December 1, 2018.
Though the NCLAT later held in the contempt proceedings that dues up to the moratorium period were paid and declined to initiate contempt, Prerna Singh then approached the Supreme Court by filing an appeal against continued non-compliance and subsequent developments.
For Appellant: Senior Advocate Madhavi Diwan with Advocates Arun Kumar Nagar, Sidharth Khatana, Kshitij Sharda, Bharat, Sudhir Naagar, AOR
For Respondent: Senior Advocate Purvish Malkan with Advocates Biswajit Dubey, Ramakant Rai, Somesh Srivastava, Pranati Sinha, Navin Kumar Jain, Surabhi Sinha, Anjali Chauhan, Kalpana Chauhan, Madhupreet Nanda, Vanshika Mathuria, Sapna Rai, Rajat Katyal, Aryan Shah, SN Kalra, Kamal, Pranav Rajput, Aditya Bharat Manubarwala, Charvi Virmani, Meenu Padha, Gopal Singh Yadav, Bharat Thakorlal Manubarwala, Meenakshi Kalra, Namiti Suri, Vardhman Kaushik, AOR