While dismissing the appeals filed by Vedanta Ltd against the approval of Adani Enterprises’ resolution plan for Jaiprakash Associates Ltd (JAL), the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has discarded the principal challenge to Adani’s acquisition of the company under the insolvency process.

The Division Bench comprising Justice Ashok Bhushan (Chairperson) and Barun Mitra (Technical Member) noted that Vedanta had challenged the order of the Allahabad Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), which had approved Adani Enterprises as the successful resolution applicant for JAL, which was reportedly valued at approximately Rs. 14,500 crores, whereas Vedanta had submitted an offer of Rs. 17,926 crores. However, citing that the Committee of Creditors’ decision to approve Adani’s plan fell within the scope of its “commercial wisdom”, the NCLT refused judicial interference under the insolvency framework.

Adani Enterprises opposed Vedanta’s challenge on the ground that it effectively sought a judicial review of the commercial decision taken by the Committee of Creditors. Appearing for Adani, Senior Advocate Ritin Rai argued that the resolution professional’s decision to seek clarifications or additional information from bidders did not amount to any procedural irregularity, but formed part of the structured insolvency resolution process.

The Senior Advocate Rai further submitted that the evaluation criteria challenged by Vedanta had been disclosed in advance, applied uniformly to all bidders, and accepted by all participants in the process. In relation to Vedanta’s revised offer made after the conclusion of the challenge process, Adani contended that considering such a bid at that stage would have compromised the integrity and finality of the insolvency resolution framework.