NCLAT Upholds Adani Bid, Dismisses Vedanta Plea in Jaiprakash Case
NCLAT Upholds Adani Bid, Dismisses Vedanta Plea in Jaiprakash Case
NCLAT dismisses Vedanta's appeal, upholding Adani's ₹14,535 crore Jaiprakash bid as JAL's insolvency process moves forward.
New Delhi: The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Monday dismissed Vedanta Ltd's challenge to Gautam Adani's group winning bid for Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL), effectively cementing the CoC's ₹14,535-crore resolution plan. The bench, comprising chairperson Justice (retired) Ashok Bhushan and technical member Barun Mitra, held that Vedanta failed to show any merit in its petitions and that the Committee of Creditors did not err in selecting Adani's bid over Vedanta's. The NCLAT noted the decision was taken in the CoC's commercial wisdom, and there were no grounds to interfere with the NCLT's order that approved Adani's plan.
Jaiprakash Associates, a real estate conglomerate with a portfolio including India's only Formula One circuit, was admitted to insolvency in June 2024 after it defaulted on bank dues that crossed ₹57,000 crore. Vedanta had mounted a challenge against the CoC's choice after Vedanta's own resolution plan and a revised bid of ₹16,070 crore faced questions of timeliness and sufficiency. The NCLAT order indicates that the grounds on which Vedanta based its appeal did not establish any arbitrariness or perversity in the CoC's process.
Business watchers say the decision narrows the path for competing bids in high-stakes insolvency cases, reinforcing the primacy of the CoC and the adjudicating authorities' deference to commercial wisdom. The Jaiprakash saga, which includes assets like India's Formula One circuit, continues to be a litmus test for creditor-led resolution and asset realisation in large corporate insolvencies.
