NCLAT dismisses Vedanta's plea against Adani's Jaiprakash bid

Synopsis

A company law appeals court has rejected Vedanta Ltd's challenge to Gautam Adani's group winning bid for bankrupt firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL). The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal found no merit in Vedanta's petitions, upholding the Committee of Creditors' decision to favor Adani's ₹14,535-crore bid. JAL entered insolvency proceedings after failing to pay over ₹57,000 crore in bank dues.

New Delhi: A company law appeals court on Monday rejected a challenge by mining billionaire Anil Agarwal's Vedanta Ltd to the winning bid by Gautam Adani's group for bankrupt real estate firm Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL), whose assets include India's only Formula One circuit.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) did not find merit in the issues raised by Vedanta and dismissed its two petitions.

A bench comprising chairperson Justice (retired) Ashok Bhushan and technical member Barun Mitra held that the Committee of Creditors (CoC) were right in preferring Adani Group's ₹14,535-crore bid over Vedanta's resolution plan for JAL.

That decision was approved by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), against which Vedanta went into an appeal in NCLAT.

"No grounds have been made out by the appellant (Vedanta) to interfere with the decision of the adjudicating authority (NCLT)," the NCLAT order said.

"There is no merit in the appeal. Both appeals are dismissed. There shall be no orders to pass."

NCLAT said the decision of the Committee of Creditors was based on "overall consideration of the respective resolution plan and was taken in its commercial wisdom," said the appellate tribunal.

JAL was admitted for insolvency proceedings in June 2024 after it failed to pay bank dues exceeding ₹57,000 crore.

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