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TMI Blog2021 (1) TMI 932X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... n of the Operational Creditor's contract which was terminated for convenience and not misconduct - In M/S. INNOVENTIVE INDUSTRIES LTD. VERSUS ICICI BANK ANR. [ 2017 (9) TMI 58 - SUPREME COURT] the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that pre-existing dispute is the dispute raised before demand notice or invoices was received by the 'Corporate Debtor'. Any subsequent dispute raised while replying to the demand notice under section 8(1) cannot be taken into consideration to hold that there is a pre-existing dispute. It is made clear that any observations made in this order shall not be construed as an expression of opinion on the merit of the controversy and the right of the applicant before any other forum shall not be prejudiced on account of dismissal of the instant application - application dismissed. - Company Petition No. IB-176/ND/2019 - - - Dated:- 21-8-2020 - Dr. Deepti Mukesh, Judicial Member And Hemant Kumar Sarangi, Technical Member For the Applicant : Sumit Pahawa, Adv., Varun Sharma, Adv. and Ms. Shrinjen Hooda, Adv. For the Respondent : Gaurav Mitra, Adv., Rohan Sharma,Adv., Vardaan Wanchoo, Adv. and Ms. Shreya, Adv. ORDER HEMANT K ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... orporate Debtor even offered her alternative roles including the role of being a foreign sounding board of the organisation. Both emails of the Operational Creditor and Corporate Debtor have been annexed. 6. It has also been stated by the Operational Creditor that the Corporate Debtor was extremely happy and satisfied with the working, as well as the performance of the Operational Creditor throughout the tenure of her employment, there were never any complaints or issues, that the promoters or the board of Corporate Debtor communicated or expressed to Operational Creditor. It was to the surprise of the Operational Creditor, that vide email dated 8-8-2018, Mr. Rajiv Jain informed the Operational Creditor that, due to one of the employee's final handover, which was handled by Operational Creditor, the management is considering cancelling the Consultancy Agreement of Operational Creditor with an immediate effect and management will negotiate the terms of the Contract with Operational Creditor. 7. The same email further states that, Operational Creditor's resignation which was submitted by Operational Creditor vide her email dated 4-7-2018, has been forwarded to Corpora ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... atedly warned by the management of the company about your performance. consequently, vide your letter dated July 4, 2018, you terminated the agreement. .... Mr. B Muralidharan ( Murali ), an ex-Chief Executive Officer of the Company, who was reporting to you, resigned from the company on August 3, 2018. As Murali's reporting manager, you were required to complete his exit formalities as per Company's policies. On August 3,2018, Murali handed over the Company's laptop and handset to you. Based on the internal enquiry conducted by us, we came to know that Murali had informed you that he has deleted all the confidential/sensitive information/data of the Company including official emails from the laptop as well as handset.As you were closely working with Murali, you knew that the data deleted by Murali included marketing/business promotion strategies, financial details, upcoming project details, sales orders and contact details of customers. As a result, Murali had committed offences of stealing confidential data, destroying Company's confidential and sensitive data, criminal breach of trust and mischief under the provisions of Indian Information Technology Act, 2000 ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... prescribed standard exit procedure laid out by Corporate Debtor. On 3-8-2018 Mr. B.Muralidharan vide his email to Operational Creditor stated that he had inadvertently deleted the entire data of his official laptop and handset while resetting the same. 17. The Corporate Debtor further states that on 8-8-2018, through its email to Operational Creditor stated that due to the recent events of her handling the exit of Mr. B. Muralidharan, the Board and Corporate Debtor's lawyer have taken notice of the said event seriously and therefore, are cancelling the Agreement forthwith. On 12-8-2018, the Corporate Debtor vide email to Operational Creditor terminated the Agreement w.e.f 4-8-2018, in terms of the legal advice and therefore, Corporate Debtor was not obligated to pay Corporate Debtor during the remainder of the 180 days of the notice period. 18. The Corporate Debtor further states that, there is a pre-existing dispute between the parties, prior to the issuance of Demand Notice dated 27-10-2018, which is discernible from various correspondences exchanged between parties on 8-8-2018, 12-8-2018, 7-9-2018, 6-11-2018 etc. not just prior to the initiation of the present proceedi ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... or to the Corporate Debtor. b. The Operational Creditor was asked by the Corporate Debtor to return the data available with her. After submitting the resignation, she went back to Austria and requested the Corporate Debtor to suggest ways through which she can return the data. The Operational Creditor even prepared a hard disk, however, the same was denied by the Corporate Debtor on the pretext that as per the Indian Custom Laws, the same is not allowed. The data then duly returned when her husband was travelling to India. 21. The Operational Creditor further states that, aforementioned handover is being portrayed by the Corporate Debtor as a moonshine dispute whereas this has no relation with the contract, the 6 months notice period and even the termination of the Operational Creditor's contract which was terminated for convenience and not misconduct. 22. In Innoventive Industries Ltd. v. ICICI Ltd. [2017] 143 SCL 625 (SC) the Hon'ble Supreme Court held that pre-existing dispute is the dispute raised before demand notice or invoices was received by the 'Corporate Debtor'. Any subsequent dispute raised while replying to the demand notice under section 8(1) ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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