27-05-2025
NCLT puts Bhushan Power liquidation on hold till August after SC order
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday deferred liquidation proceedings for Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BPSL) till August, following a 26 May Supreme Court order directing status quo in the matter.
'In the wake of the Supreme Court order, hearing stands deferred till 1 August,' the NCLT-Delhi said.
The Supreme Court on Monday granted interim relief to JSW Steel, which had sought a pause on the BPSL liquidation proceedings to file a review petition challenging the top court's 2 May verdict.
That ruling quashed JSW's ₹ 19,300 crore resolution plan for the bankrupt steel company and ordered its liquidation.
The Supreme Court allowed JSW to file the review petition within the statutory limitation period, noting that continuing with liquidation could jeopardise the review.
Accordingly, the NCLT was directed to maintain the status quo until further orders.
Meanwhile, the top court indicated that the review petition is likely to be heard after the court's summer vacation, once it is filed.
The newly constituted NCLT bench—comprising Justice Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj (judicial member) and Reena Sinha Puri (technical member)—will now hear various petitions related to the case, including one filed by former promoter Sanjay Singhal, seeking enforcement of the apex court's 26 May order.
The new bench took over the case after NCLT president Justice Ramalingam Sudhakar, whose bench had earlier been hearing the case, decided to reassign the matter.
Mint earlier reported how, during an open court hearing, the NCLT president raised concerns about the shortage of available members to revisit such a complex, high-stakes insolvency matter—especially one that had been settled nearly five years ago.
With dues exceeding ₹ 47,200 crore, BPSL was among the first 12 large loan defaulters identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in 2017 to be sold or liquidated under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).
JSW Steel's ₹ 19,300 crore resolution plan was approved by the NCLT in September 2019 and upheld by the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in February 2020.
However, on 2 May 2025, the Supreme Court struck down the resolution plan, acting on petitions filed by Singhal and certain operational creditors.
The court cited material non-compliance with key provisions of the IBC—particularly the failure to strictly implement the plan within the approved timeline—as grounds for its decision.
