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Informist, Tuesday, Mar. 24, 2026

 

--NCLAT refuses to stay Adani Ent resolution plan for Jaiprakash Associates

--CONTEXT: Vedanta in NCLAT vs Adani Ent IBC plan for Jaiprakash Associates 

--NCLAT to hear Vedanta plea vs Adani Ent plan for Jaiprakash Associates Apr 9

 

NEW DELHI – The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal Tuesday refused to stay the implementation of Adani Enterprises Ltd.'s INR-145-billion resolution plan for debt-ridden Jaiprakash Associates Ltd. Vedanta Ltd had challenged Adani Enterprises' resolution plan, terming the process followed by the committee of creditors of Jaiprakash Associates in approving the plan as "unfair, opaque, and inequitable". 

 

Directing Jaiprakash Associates' resolution professional, committee of creditors and Adani Enterprises to file replies on Vedanta's challenge, the appellate tribunal said, "...the implementation of resolution plan shall go on but that shall abide by the result of its (National Company Law Appellate Tribunal) order".

 

"We can't stop the plan implementation," said the bench of judicial member Ashok Bhushan and technical member Barun Mitra. It said the matter needs to be heard at an early date and listed the case for hearing on Apr. 9.  

 

The appellate tribunal will also shortly pass an order on delisting of Jaiprakash Associates. Vedanta had argued that the delisting of the company should not happen while the appellate tribunal was hearing its appeal.  

 

Vedanta argued that the company was the highest bidder for Jaiprakash Associates in the challenge process conducted for the resolution of debt-ridden entity. Vedanta said that at every stage of the insolvency process, it was told that it had the highest bid. However, through a recourse to some unknown methodology of scoring resolution plans, its plan has been rejected by the committee of creditors, said Vedanta.

 

The objective of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code was value maximisation and its offer was much more than Adani Enterprises, said Vedanta. However, the committee of creditors of Jaiprakash Associates by adopting an incorrect criteria for evaluation of resolution plans, declared Adani Enterprises as the successful resolution applicant, said Vedanta. This requires consideration as the corporate insolvency process ran contrary to the objective of the 2016 Code, said Vedanta. It sought that no equity should be created in allowing Adani Enterprises to implement the resolution plan. 

 

The committee of creditors of Jaiprakash Associates said that the evaluation of the resolution plans was according to Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code evaluation matrix and each aspect of Adani Enterprises' plan was in accordance with the law. Adani Enterprises argued that there was no substantial challenge to its resolution plan by Vedanta and the same has been rightly approved by the committee of creditors and the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on Mar. 17.

 

In 2024, the Allahabad tribunal had admitted ICICI Bank's insolvency petition against Jaiprakash Associates under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code for a debt of INR 12.69 billion. The order was upheld by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal the same year.

 

Last year, the committee of creditors of Jaiprakash Associates approved the resolution plan put forth by Adani Enterprises. Entities that had bid to take over Jaiprakash Associates also included Dalmia Bharat Ltd. and Jindal Power. While the Vedanta group put in a bid of INR 170 billion, Adani Enterprises had proposed to take over the company for INR 145 billion.

 

At 1258 IST, shares of Vedanta were up 1.2% at INR 653.30 on the National Stock Exchange. Shares of Jaiprakash Associates were down 4.7% at INR 2.42, while those of Adani Enterprises were up 0.4% at INR 1,840.20 on the NSE. Shares of ICICI Bank were up 1.1% at INR 1,235.60.  End 

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Surya Tripathi

Edited by Vandana Hingorani

 

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