Ex promoter of Bhushan Power moves NCLT to enfore SC’s liquidation order

Sanjay Singhal, the erstwhile promoter of Bhushan Power and Steel, has filed a petition with the National Company Law Tribunal to implement the Supreme Court judgment of liquidating BPSL asset.

The petition filed by Singhal with NCLT said in view of the authoritative pronouncement by the Supreme Court and the unequivocal nature of the directions contained therein, the Tribunal may be pleased to pass such directions as are considered appropriate to give full effect to the judgment dated May 2, in conformity with the framework of the IBC and the procedural mandate arising therefrom.

The plea of Singhal comes even as the government, lenders and JSW Steel are planning to move a review petition on the Supreme Court verdict which came down heavily on the process and financial structure involved in the case.

SC crackdown

In its judgment, the Supreme Court had said the Resolution Plan of JSW Steel as approved by the committee of creditors (CoC) stands rejected, being not in conformity with the provisions and NCLT is directed to initiate the Liquidation Proceedings against BPSL under Chapter III of the IBC and in accordance with law.

The payments made by the JSW to the financial creditors and the operational creditors, as also the equity contribution if any infused, under the garb of the implementation of the Resolution Plan, being subject to the outcome of the present set of Appeals, will be dealt with by the parties, it added.

Earlier, the Supreme Court had come down heavily on the way the case is handled and said the Resolution Professional had utterly failed to discharge his statutory duties contemplated under the IBC and the CIRP Regulations during the course of entire CIR proceedings of the Corporate Debtor BPSL.

The CoC had failed to exercise its commercial wisdom while approving the Resolution Plan of the JSW, which was in absolute contravention of the mandatory provisions of IBC and CIRP Regulations. The CoC also had failed to protect the interest of the creditors by taking contradictory stands before this Court, and accepting the payments from JSW without any demurer, and supporting JSW to implement its ill-motivated plan against the interest of the creditors, said the judgment.

JSW, even after the approval of its plan by the NCLAT, willfully contravened and not complied with the terms of the said approved Resolution Plan for a period of about two years, which had frustrated the very object and purpose of the IBC, and consequently had vitiated the CIR proceedings of the Corporate Debtor-BPSL, it added.

Published on May 9, 2025