New Delhi: National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday dismissed the two petitions filed by Vedanta Ltd challenging Adani Enterprises‘ selection for debt-ridden Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL).A two-member bench comprising chairperson Ashok Bhushan and member (technical) Barun Mitra said, “No grounds have been made out by the appellant (Vedanta) to interfere with the decision of the adjudicating authority (NCLT)… Both appeals are dismissed.”The tribunal said the committee of creditors’ (CoC) decision was based on the “overall consideration of the respective resolution plan and was taken in its commercial wisdom… (There was) no material irregularity committed by resolution professional while conducting the plan resolution process.”Dismissing Vedanta’s plea questioning the evaluation metrics, NCLAT said the “decision of CoC not approving the resolution plan of the appellant with a higher plan value of Rs 3,400 crore and NPV (net present value) of Rs 500 crore as compared to plan of respondent No 3 (Adani) cannot be said to be arbitrary or perverse”.NCLT’s Allahabad bench had on March 17 approved Adani Enterprises’ Rs 14,535-crore bid to acquire JAL through the insolvency process. Vedanta had challenged this before NCLAT’s appellate tribunal. On March 24, NCLAT had declined interim stay over Vedanta’s plea. However, it had also said the plan would be subject to the outcome of the appeals filed by Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Group.CoC said the process complied with all Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code rules. It maintained no bidder had a guaranteed right to win, even if it offered the highest value.JAL, which has high-quality assets and business interests spanning real estate, cement manufacturing, hospitality, power, and engineering & construction, was admitted to CIRP in June 2024 after it had defaulted on payments of Rs 57,185-crore loans.
