NCLAT upholds Adani bid, dismisses Vedanta plea in Jaypee insolvency case

New Delhi [India], May 4 : The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has dismissed a plea filed by Vedanta in connection with the ongoing insolvency proceedings of Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL), bringing closure to a prolonged legal contest over the resolution process.

While pronouncing its judgment, the appellate tribunal observed that it did not find merit in the specific seven issues raised by Vedanta and concluded that no further orders were required in the matter.

Vedanta had challenged the approval of Adani Group's resolution plan by the Committee of Creditors (CoC) in the Jaiprakash Associates insolvency case, contending that its own proposal offered significantly higher value to lenders. The company argued that its revised bid, pegged at over Rs 17,900 crore, was superior to Adani's Rs 14,535-crore plan and that the evaluation process failed to maximise value for stakeholders.

During the course of hearings before the NCLAT, Vedanta raised concerns over the transparency and consistency of the CoC's evaluation matrix, alleging that the scoring mechanism produced a distorted outcome by favouring a lower-value bid. It also questioned the rejection of its revised addendum proposal, submitted after the final round of bidding, asserting that procedural constraints should not override the objective of value maximisation under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

The plea was strongly opposed by the CoC, the resolution professional, and Adani Group, all of whom defended the integrity of the resolution process. They maintained that the evaluation framework was pre-disclosed, binding, and applied uniformly to all bidders.

Appearing for the CoC, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had argued that the scoring matrix assigned weightage to multiple financial parameters, including upfront cash, deferred payments, and equity infusion, and that Adani's bid emerged as the highest-scoring proposal under this framework.

The resolution professional, also contended that Vedanta's claim of being the highest bidder was misleading and not supported by the record. It was submitted that the process required a composite evaluation of bids and that no resolution applicant had a vested right to have its plan approved.

Adani Group, for its part, argued that allowing post-deadline revisions would undermine the sanctity and finality of the corporate insolvency resolution process.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had declined to grant interim relief to Vedanta, noting that the matter was already under consideration before the NCLAT and emphasising the need for expeditious disposal.

With the appellate tribunal now dismissing Vedanta's plea, the path appears clearer for the implementation of the approved resolution plan for Jaiprakash Associates Limited, subject to any further legal recourse at the apex court.

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