NCLAT order approving UltraTech’s resolution plan for Binani challenged in SC

Yesterday’s National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order approving Ultratech Cement’s revised resolution plan for debt-ridden Binani Cement has been challenged in the Supreme Court..Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for Dalmia Bharat’s Rajputana Properties, mentioned the matter today before Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi. The matter was sought to be listed for tomorrow, but Justice Gogoi agreed to list it on Monday. Sankaranarayanan was briefed by Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Partner Manu Nair..A two-member bench of the NCLAT headed by Chairperson Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya yesterday rejected the resolution plan submitted by Dalmia Bharat’s Rajputana Properties, calling it “discriminatory” and “unbalanced”..The Bench observed that the plan submitted by Rajputana discriminated between “equally situated” financial creditors and did not balance other stakeholders such as the operational creditors of Binani Cement. Therefore, its resolution plan was rightly rejected, it said..The Bench ordered that the approval of Ultratech’s resolution plan by the Adjudicating Authority cannot be held to be illegal..The NCLAT also remitted the records of the proceedings back to the NCLT Kolkata Bench for establishing a monitoring committee for the process..The Appellate Tribunal had reserved its order in the litigation between Aditya Birla Group’s UltraTech Cement and the Dalmia Bharat’s Rajputana Properties in August this year.