NCLAT stays voting by Bhushan Steel lenders on finalising bids

New Delhi: NCLAT on Tuesday stayed the meeting of Committee of Creditors (CoC) of Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd to vote on bids for the debt-ridden firm.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal also pulled up the Resolution Professional (RP), Mahendra Kumar Khandelwal, for not following its previous orders to address operational creditors' grievances and take their suggestion by allowing them to attend the meeting.

NCLAT said it would consider whether contempt of court proceedings should be initiated against the RP in the next hearing.

A two-member bench headed by Chairman Justice S J Mukhopadhaya directed him to be present in the next hearing.

The CoC should not proceed with the meeting at present. If the meeting is fixed on Tuesday, let it be adjourned for two days. Let the matter be listed on Friday, NCLAT said.

It said all the parties including operational creditors should have been informed about the meeting, and stayed it for not following the rules.

RP would be personally present in the next hearing on July 20 and we will see if proceedings of contempt of court should be initiated against him or not, the bench said.

Later in the day, RP said in a statement that it has complied with the orders of NCLAT to address the suggestions and objections of operational creditors and had invited Jaldhi Overseas, being the largest operational creditors.