Numetal can bid for Essar, ArcelorMittal must clear dues: NCLAT
New Delhi, Sep 7 : The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday ruled that Numetal's second bid for insolvent Essar Steel was eligible, and asked ArcelorMittal to first clear its dues by September 11 to turn eligible.
The appellate tribunal directed the Committee of Creditors (CoC), lenders of Essar Steel, to expedite its negotiation with eligible bidders to get the best value for the stressed asset.
Apart from Numetal, Anil Agarwal-led Vedanta Resources is also an eligible bidder, which joined the race in the second round of bidding.
The NCLAT's approval of Numetal's second bid has set aside its earlier Ahmedabad Bench order that had ruled that second round of bidding was "prima facie invalid". Numetal had filed its second bid on March 29.
ArcelorMittal has been asked to clear its dues related to Uttam Galva and KSS Petron, of which it was a promoter when these turned non-performing assets (NPA).
The Lakshmi Mittal-company needs to pay about Rs 7,000 crore in three working days by Tuesday to become eligible, as per the NCLAT ruling.
The world's largest steelmaker had made a conditional deposit of Rs 7,000 crore in its own current account saying it was ready to deposit the amount in the non-performing accounts of Uttam Galva and KSS Petron if its bid was successful.
However, the tribunal ruled conditional offer to pay the overdues was not acceptable and actual transfer of money had to be done before its resolution plan is considered.
Section 29A of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) disqualifies a promoter of NPA from submitting a resolution plan. The same rule had earlier barred Numetal from being an eligible bidder as it had a stake from a family member of insolvent Essar Steel.
Rewant Ruia, son of Essar Steel promoter Ravi Ruia, had 25 per cent stake in Numetal through his 100 per cent-owned Aurora Enterprises Ltd (AEL) at the time of first round of bidding and Numetal was seen as a proxy for Ruias.
However, Rewant Ruia (AEL) has fully divested his stake in Numetal and JSW Steel is now a part of the Numetal consortium.
"As on March 29, 2018, as the AEL was not the shareholder of Numetal Ltd and all the three shareholders aforesaid being eligible, we hold that Numetal Ltd in respect of Resolution Plan dated March 29, 2018, is eligible," the bankruptcy court ruled.
The NCLAT has allowed the CoC to deduct the litigation period between April 26 and September 7 from the resolution period that gives 270 days to resolve a case after which the company is considered for liquidation.
"We note today's (Friday) NCLAT judgement and await the full order, which we will review before determining our next steps," ArcelorMittal said in a statement on the verdict by the two-member bench headed by Chairman Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya.
The CoC is now expected to hold a meeting soon to proceed on the resolution process for beleaguered Essar Steel unless any of the parties challenges NCLAT's verdict.
Though the second round of bids are yet to be opened, officials say Numetal's bid for Essar Steel is about Rs 37,000 crore and that of ArcelorMittal is about Rs 38,500 crore.
The financial creditors claim on bankrupt Essar Steel is to the tune of Rs 49,800 crore.
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Video Does Not Show S Jaishankar Being Asked To Leave Trump’s Inauguration
CLAIM: Video shows External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar being asked to leave Trump's inauguration ceremony.
FACT CHECK: The live streaming of the event shows a staffer requesting a photographer, who was taking pictures, to move back from the front row, and not S Jaishankar.
A video from Donald Trump's inauguration ceremony as the 47th president of the United States has surfaced with false claims that it shows External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar being asked to leave the ceremony midway.
BOOM went through the live streaming of the event and found that a staffer was requesting a photographer who was taking pictures, to move back from the front row, and not Jaishankar. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met foreign ministers from Japan and Australia at the ceremony. In the photographs shared from his X handle, Jaishankar can be seen seated in the front row.
A user on X posted the video with the below caption.
Click here to view the post and here for an archive.
Fact Check
The video was streamed live on the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies' official YouTube channel on January 20, 2025.
From the 3:08:30 timestamp of the video, we found that a photographer was capturing moments from Trump's inaugural ceremony from various angles. At one point, she is seen stepping in front of External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, seated in the front row, to take photographs of the event.
After noticing the woman photographer taking pictures from the front row, a staffer came towards her, called the photographer, and requested her to move back. This can be seen from timestamp 3:08:50.
The staffer was then seen leaving the front row shortly after making the request. At the timestamp 3:09:18, the photographer can be seen moving back. Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister Jaishankar can be seen remaining seated in his position.
We then zoomed in on the video and was able to establish that it was the woman photographer and not Jaishankar, who was asked to move back. It can also be noticed that the staffer was not looking at Jaishankar, but instead looking at the photographer, as she was taking pictures from a lower angle.
That specific part of the live stream is shown below.
Propagandist spreading disinfo with a clip from #TrumpInauguration where EAM @DrSJaishankar sat in first row superseding many dignitaries showing US-India ties
— Harry Minati (@harryminat1) January 21, 2025
Claims were made that @DrSJaishankar was asked by a lady to go back, it was actually the cameraman not @DrSJaishankar pic.twitter.com/3Qsp8z3xJ8
(This story was originally published by boomlive.in, and republished by english.varthabharati.in as part of the Shakti Collective)
