The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) dismissed a plea by US-based Interups Inc that challenged a lower court’s approval of JSW Steel group’s Rs 1,550 crore-bid for Asian Colour Coated Ispat Ltd (ACCIL).
Rejecting the plea, the NCLAT said Interups wanted to enter the fray for ACCIL nearly one year after the Committee of Creditor (CoC) gave its approval for the resolution plan, in an order on Monday.
The judgment by a three-member bench headed by acting chairperson Justice Bansi Lal Bhat said Interups was neither an aggrieved party in the insolvency process nor has a locus standi to file the appeal.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had in October last year approved the resolution plan of Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel group firm JSW Steel Coated Products for ACCIL.
State Bank of India had initiated insolvency proceedings against AICCL, which specialises in downstream, galvanised and colour-coated products for exports, in July 2018. Total debt of ACCIL stood at around Rs 6,500 crore.
The NCLAT noted that Interups was a “stranger” to the insolvency resolution process till June 11, 2020. It had the first time expressed its interest to submit a resolution plan on June 12, 2020, through an e-mail marked to all CoC members and no financial proposal was provided.
“Appellant (Interups) has asked for EoI (Expression of Interest) on June 12 2020 when application seeking approval of resolution plan was already filed by Resolution Professional on July 10, 2019 under section 31 of Code after CoC approval on June 28, 2019 with 79.3 per cent voting share,” the judgment said.
This neither qualified Interups as a resolution applicant nor a prospective resolution applicant and thus could not be termed as an aggrieved party, the appellate tribunal said, stating, “Appellant may be termed as an outsider standing on the sidelines.”
