JAL insolvency case: Lenders flag ‘leak’ that may have aided Vedanta bid

MUMBAI/NEW DELHI: In a fresh twist in the insolvency proceedings of Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL), the Committee of Creditors (CoC) on Monday told the appellate tribunal that a possible information leak may have prompted Vedanta Ltd to revise its bid for the bankrupt firm.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CoC before the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), said, “Vedanta was lagging in the first and fifth parameter, but somehow they came to know it. And it is our case that there was some leakage which should not have happened, because that compromises the sanctity and integrity of the process.”

The principal bench of the NCLAT, led by Justice Ashok Bhushan, was hearing Vedanta's plea challenging Adani Enterprises as the highest bidder in the JAL insolvency case.

Mehta added that after the alleged leak, Vedanta submitted a revised offer, increasing values in parameters one and five—net present value (NPV) and equity infusion—where it had earlier lagged. The CoC rejected the revised bid as it was submitted after the deadline.

National Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd (NARCL), one of the largest voting members in the CoC, argued that accepting the revised offer would require restarting the process and delay resolution.

Advocate Niranjan Reddy, also representing the CoC, said, “After the bidding concluded, they understood that they were not going to succeed, and they came up with it.”

The next hearing is scheduled for 21 April.

Lawyers said the development could strengthen Vedanta’s case in the proceedings.

“It's a process integrity issue, and Vedanta can argue that there was no level playing field in this case,” said Arka Majumdar, partner at Argus Partners.

On Friday Abhishek Manu Singhvi, representing resolution professional said, “One of the biggest methods of drawing attention to some kind of big sensational issues is to suggest that we (resolution professionals) declared Mr (Abhijeet) Sinha’s client (Vedanta) to be the best, the highest, or the most appropriate and then we suddenly changed it. The very premise of this submission… as if I have declared you as the highest and then shifted it. That would be unfair if it would have happened, and completely without foundational facts."

Vedanta’s counsel Abhijeet Sinha rejected the allegations as “baseless” and said the company had “not suppressed any documents and presented everything in court”.

Vedanta has also accused the CoC of ignoring its bid despite it being the highest after five rounds of the challenge process. “In the process of scoring there should be some transparency, but there was nothing," Sinha said on 16 April.

JAL entered insolvency proceedings in 2024, with more than ₹50,000 crore owed to creditors.

The contest for JAL’s assets includes nearly 4,000 acres of land across Noida, Greater Noida and the Yamuna Expressway, along with hotels, commercial assets, cement capacity and a Formula 1 racing track.

Adani Enterprises' resolution plan was approved by the Allahabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on 17 March, after which Vedanta approached the NCLAT and the Supreme Court seeking a stay.

On 6 April, a Supreme Court bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi declined to interfere with orders of the NCLT and NCLAT that cleared the plan’s rollout. However, it directed the committee overseeing the resolution to seek prior NCLAT approval before taking any major steps.