Essar Steel operational creditors question CoC over discrimination

New Delhi: Essar Steel's operational creditors with claims of over Rs one crore Wednesday alleged that the committee of creditors of the debt-ridden firm has been "monopolised" by its financial lenders and sought equal treatment on par with them.

CoC can not "arbitrarily discriminate" between the operational creditors with claims under Rs one crore and above Rs one crore under the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, they said in a public notice published in newspapers.

Questioning the classification of operational creditors by the lenders, they wondered as "how has COC decided the cut off figure of Rs one crore between the same class of admitted Operational Creditors?"

As per the Rs 42,000 crore resolution plan for Essar Steel by the global steel giant ArcelorMittal, operational creditors having claims below Rs one crore will get their dues and those with claims of over Rs one crore will receive almost zero.

"CoC is interpreting IBC in the narrowest, totally self-serving and one-sided un-balanced manner and consequently arrogated draconian powers for itself for unilaterally maximising the proceeds almost entirely for FCs, leaving nothing for AOCs over Rs one crore," the operational creditors with over Rs one crore claim contended in the notice.