Supreme Court refuses BCCI, Byju Promoter's plea to withdraw insolvency proceedings

The Supreme Court today refused an appeal filed by Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and Riju Raveendran to withdraw insolvency proceedings against Byju's.

Notably, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in April this year, set aside the pleas of BCCI and Riju Raveendran challenging the blockage of the withdrawal of insolvency proceedings against the ed-tech company.

Last year, Supreme Court of India had set aside the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal order which allowed Rs 158.9 crore as settlement to be paid by edtech major Byju's to BCCI and thus allowed the appeal filed by US-based creditor Glas Trust Company LLC saying that it could not be considered an unrelated party to the insolvency proceedings and has a locus to move the court.

Court has further ordered that the amount of Rs 158 crores would be maintained in separate escrow account and it will deposited into the escrow account of the committee of creditors and shall be maintained by them.

On August 2, 2024, the NCLAT had approved the Rs 158.9 crore dues settlement with the BCCI and set aside insolvency proceedings initiated against Byju's. The decision paved the way for Byju Raveendran getting back in control of the firm.

The dispute between the BCCI and Byju's pertained to the sponsorship contract for providing jerseys to the Indian Cricket Team. It revolved around a Rs 160 crore sponsorship contract scheduled to end in November 2023. However, the cricket board insisted on continuing the contract until March 2024 to facilitate the board in securing a new sponsor on board from the new financial year.

It was reported that following the financial trouble the company decided not to renew any of its contracts with BCCI, International Cricket Council (ICC) or (Fédération Internationale de football association) FIFA. Glas Trust alleged that the money being paid to the cricketing authority by Riju Ravindran, brother of the company’s founder Byju Raveendran, was tainted. Ravindran had agreed to pay off the company’s dues from his personal funds. Glas Trust is stated to be the trustee for lenders to which Byju’s owes US Dollar 1.2 billion.

Hearing Date: July 21, 2025

Bench: Justices JB Pardiwala and R Mahadevan