NCLAT Refused to Restrain Salman Khan from taking Possession of his Mumbai Property

NCLAT Refused to Restrain Salman Khan from taking Possession of his Mumbai Property

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), while adjudicating the appeal filed in the matter of Koinonia Coffee Private Ltd. vs. Vijay Kumar V Iyer Resolution Professional of Future Retail Ltd. and others., refused to restrain Bollywood actor Salman Khan from terminating the lease of his 27,650 sqft commercial property in Mumbai, which is currently home to a Foodhall supermarket, owned by TNSI Retail Private Limited, a subsidiary of Future Retail Limited.

The order was passed by the division-member bench comprising of Justice Ashok Bhushan (Chairperson) and Barun Mitra (Technical Member).

Koinonia Coffee Pvt Ltd, which runs coffee shops at Foodhall stores, and is owned by TNSI, had approached the Appellate Tribunal as Respondent No. 5- Salman Khan was seeking to terminate the lease agreement with effect from 30April, 2023.

Koinonia Coffee Pvt. Ltd was represented by Advocates Mr. Amar Dave and Ms. Aakashi Lodha.

The Counsels argued that since Kishore Biyani-owned Future Retail have gone into insolvency, the coffee company had asked the Resolution Professional (RP) to take possession of the Foodhall supermarkets and pay their dues as per the agreement. However, the business was handed over to TNSI instead.

It was the appellant’s case, that the coffee company had approached National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) with an application stating that the agreement between TNSI and Future on Foodhall was an attempt to ring-fence the Foodhall business and was seeking to deprive their stakeholders of its in-going revenues/profits. The lawyers argued that despite requesting NCLT to pass orders in the case time and again, the Tribunal refused to do so. Hence, they had approached the NCLAT.

Thereafter, the NCLT had reserved its orders on 22 February and is yet to deliver the same.

Additionally, in 2023, Salman Khan sought to terminate the agreement and wished to take back the possession of his property. The Actor Salman Khan in 2017 had leased an area of 27,650 sqft spread over four floors to TNSI Retail Private Limited, a subsidiary of Future Retail Limited, in Mumbai.

As per the documents on record, it showed that the lease agreement for commercial premises located on the lower ground floor, ground floor, first floor and second floor at Santacruz West in Mumbai was renewed in September 2022 between licensor Salman Khan and licensee TNSI Retail Private Limited. The monthly rent for the first year is Rs. 89.6 lakhs and Rs. 94.08 lakhs from the second year onwards. The company has paid a security deposit of Rs. 2.68 crores. The chargeable area is 27,650 sq. ft. and 23,042 sq ft. is the carpet area.

The Learned counsels for the Appellant had submitted before the NCLAT that under Section 14(1)(d) of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016, along with moratorium, the provision further provides that any property in the occupation or possession of the Corporate Debtor is allowed to be interfered with.

In this regard, the NCLAT observed that, “we are of the view that these are the issued which need to be considered by the Adjudicating Authority while delivering orders on the application.”

The NCLAT opined that it would not be appropriate to pass orders in a case where judgment is yet to be delivered by NCLT.

Accordingly, it dismissed the Appeal.