Best NCLT New Delhi & NCLAT – Company and Insolvency Disputes Lawyer

The National Company Law Tribunal decides insolvency cases against companies and LLPs under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, and company law disputes under the Companies Act, including oppression and mismanagement. The New Delhi bench, which sits in several courts, hears matters for companies with registered offices in Delhi. Appeals go to the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal, whose principal bench is also in New Delhi.

This page is for creditors, companies, promoters and shareholders whose arbitration or contract dispute has an NCLT dimension: a creditor with an unpaid award considering insolvency, a company facing an insolvency petition based on a disputed debt, or shareholders whose dispute belongs partly in arbitration and partly before the tribunal. In short: the NCLT is not a forum for ordinary debt recovery, but it can be decisive where a company owes ₹1 crore or more and cannot or will not pay, or where those in control of a company are acting unfairly.

For a detailed guide to insolvency and NCLT procedure, see our network site ncltlawyers.in. This page focuses on how NCLT matters connect with arbitration and commercial disputes.

Is this your situation?

How NCLT and arbitration interact

From unpaid award to insolvency petition

If you have an arbitral award against a company and the company does not pay, execution is the usual route. But where the company is solvent and simply refuses, an insolvency petition can be faster and more persuasive, provided the debt is ₹1 crore or more.

An award holder who supplied goods or services is usually an operational creditor; one who lent money, a financial creditor. An operational creditor must first send a demand notice under Section 8. If the company has filed a Section 34 challenge to the award, the NCLT may treat the debt as disputed, and courts have differed on whether a pending challenge, without a stay, prevents a petition. Where the challenge has been dismissed, or the time for challenge has expired, the debt is generally treated as crystallised.

For financial creditors, after the IBC (Amendment) Act, 2026, admission is mandatory once default is established and the application is complete. For operational creditors, the Mobilox test of a plausible pre-existing dispute still applies.

How an NCLT matter proceeds

Time and typical cost range

Our fees are agreed in writing at the start, stage by stage, and are not linked to the outcome.

Documents needed

NCLT benches for Delhi NCR companies

When your arbitration is stopped by a moratorium

If you are in arbitration against a company and it is admitted into insolvency, the arbitration stops under the Section 14 moratorium. The tribunal cannot proceed, and an award passed in breach of the moratorium is vulnerable. Your claim does not disappear: file it with the interim resolution professional within the time stated in the public announcement, with documents supporting the amount.

If the claim is disputed, the resolution professional may admit it in part or reject it, and you can challenge that decision before the NCLT. If a resolution plan is approved, your claim is dealt with under the plan, often at a fraction of its value for operational creditors. Claims not filed may be extinguished by the plan, as the Supreme Court held in Ghanashyam Mishra v Edelweiss (2021).

If the arbitration was against the company as respondent and the company had a counter-claim, the company, through the resolution professional, may continue its own claims. The Supreme Court in Ankhim Holdings v Zaveri Construction (February 2026) dealt with the consequences for an arbitration interrupted by a moratorium, holding that the proper course after the moratorium is to appoint a substitute arbitrator to continue, rather than treating the earlier proceedings as a nullity.

Defending an insolvency petition based on a contract dispute

If an operational creditor has filed a Section 9 petition against your company, and you dispute the debt, the key is to show a pre-existing dispute: one raised before you received the demand notice. Emails complaining about quality, rejection notes, deductions communicated at the time, a pending suit, or a pending arbitration all count. A dispute raised for the first time in reply to the demand notice usually does not.

If a financial creditor has filed under Section 7, defences are narrower after the 2026 amendment. You can contest whether the debt is a financial debt, whether there has been a default, and whether the application is complete and within limitation. Settlement before admission is the cleanest exit. After admission, withdrawal under Section 12A is possible only after the committee of creditors is formed, with 90% of its vote, and before the first invitation for resolution plans. See defend insolvency.

Laws that apply

How we work

We are a litigation and advisory practice led by Advocate BK Singh, with offices in Dwarka (New Delhi) and Vaishali (Ghaziabad). This is what you can expect:

• Arbitration and IBC together: strategy that uses both where it helps.
• Honest assessment: whether insolvency will help or simply share your money with others.
• Clean filings: demand notices and applications built to withstand objections.
• NCLAT appeals: within the short statutory periods.
• Written fee terms: agreed stage by stage, never linked to the outcome.

Mistakes at the NCLT

Appeals to the NCLAT

Appeals from the NCLT go to the NCLAT. For orders under the IBC, Section 61 allows 30 days from the order, with a further 15 days if sufficient cause is shown; the NCLAT has no power to condone delay beyond that. For orders under the Companies Act, Section 421 allows 45 days, with a further 45 days for sufficient cause. Count carefully, and apply for a certified copy at once.

After the IBC (Amendment) Act, 2026, the NCLAT is to aim to decide IBC appeals within three months. In practice, timelines vary, but the tribunal does list IBC appeals more quickly than many other matters. Interim orders, such as a stay of an admission order or of the constitution of the committee of creditors, are sometimes granted at the first hearing where the appeal shows a serious point.

A further appeal from the NCLAT lies to the Supreme Court on a question of law, within 45 days for IBC orders under Section 62 and within 60 days for Companies Act orders under Section 423, with limited extensions.

Settlements and Section 12A after 2026

Many insolvency petitions settle. Before admission, the applicant can simply withdraw with the tribunal's permission. After admission, the IBC (Amendment) Act, 2026 limits withdrawal under Section 12A: it is possible only after the committee of creditors is constituted, with the approval of 90% of its voting share, and before the first invitation for resolution plans. Between admission and the committee's formation, settlement is usually pursued through an appeal to the NCLAT.

For an operational creditor whose petition has been admitted, this means a settlement with the company may need the approval of financial creditors who were not part of the original dispute. For promoters, it means that waiting until after admission to settle makes the exit harder. The practical lesson is to settle early, before the admission hearing, where a settlement is possible.

Personal guarantors before the NCLT

Promoters and directors often give personal guarantees for loans to their companies. Under Part III of the IBC, a creditor can file an insolvency resolution application against a personal guarantor to a corporate debtor before the NCLT. The Supreme Court upheld this framework in Dilip B. Jiwrajka v Union of India (2023).

The 2026 amendment added a provision to Section 96 so that the interim moratorium does not apply where an application is filed against a personal guarantor to a corporate debtor. Guarantors facing such applications should take advice promptly, because the process can affect their personal assets and other proceedings. Arbitral awards against guarantors, where the guarantee had an arbitration clause, can also be the basis of such applications.

Oppression petitions alongside SHA arbitrations

Shareholder disputes often involve both an oppression and mismanagement petition before the NCLT and an arbitration under the shareholders' agreement. The NCLT has jurisdiction over statutory remedies affecting the company, such as setting aside allotments, removing directors and ordering buy-outs. Arbitrators decide contractual claims between the parties to the SHA.

When a party files an oppression petition and the other applies under Section 8 to refer it to arbitration, the NCLT examines whether the petition genuinely seeks statutory remedies or is a contractual dispute in disguise. Genuine oppression petitions generally stay with the NCLT. To avoid inconsistent outcomes, parties sometimes agree to pursue one forum first. See oppression and mismanagement and shareholder and founder disputes.

Demand notices and the dispute test

An operational creditor, such as a supplier or service provider, must serve a demand notice under Section 8 of the IBC before filing a Section 9 application. The debtor then has ten days to pay or to bring to the creditor's notice the existence of a dispute, or the record of a pending suit or arbitration about the debt. Under Mobilox (2017), a plausible dispute raised before the notice defeats the application.

For creditors who also have an arbitration clause, the sequencing matters. If you start arbitration first, the pending arbitration is itself a dispute that will defeat a later Section 9 application until the award is made. If you send an IBC demand notice first, and the debtor has no pre-existing dispute, the insolvency route may be quicker. Once an award is made and not challenged, the debt is crystallised and an IBC application becomes stronger. See IBC demand notice.

Practical points for NCLT New Delhi

NCLT New Delhi sits in several courts, with matters allocated to benches by subject and roster. Filing is electronic, with the prescribed fee. Applications must be in the prescribed forms with all annexures, and defects are common reasons for delay. Admission hearings in IBC matters can take several months to be reached, depending on the bench's list.

For urgent matters, such as interim relief in oppression petitions or applications concerning the moratorium, mention the urgency clearly. For IBC appeals to the NCLAT, the 30-day limit is strict, so apply for a certified copy of the NCLT's order immediately.