SC orders status quo in Essar insolvency case

The Supreme Court on July 22 ordered status quo as of today in the Essar insolvency case.

A bench headed by Justice R F Nariman said the monitoring committee will continue its work till the case is heard on August 7.

The bench was hearing a plea of the Committee of Creditors challenging NCLAT's order of July 4 in which it had approved steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal-led ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000 crore bid for the acquisition of Essar Steel after it rejected a plea by the lead shareholder of the debt-laden firm challenging the eligibility of the bidder.

The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), however, gave operational creditors equal status as lenders in the distribution of the ArcelorMittal's bid amount among the creditors of Essar Steel.

Essar Steel was auctioned under the new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) to recover Rs 54,547 crore of unpaid dues of financial lenders and operational creditors.