NCLAT annuls voting on NBCC’s Jaypee Infratech bid
The voting that started on Thursday and was to continue till Sunday was to approve or reject the NBCC bid.
New Delhi: Acting upon a fresh plea by IDBI Bank, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday cancelled the voting by homebuyers and lenders on NBCC’s bid to acquire Jaypee Infratech. The appellate tribunal, however, allowed renegotiation on the offer by May 30 and ordered a fresh voting process to start from May 31.
IDBI Bank is the biggest lender to the debt-laden realty firm Jaypee Infratech. The lender was not happy with the bidding that started on Thursday and opposed the NBCC bid, saying it was conditional upon grant of approval to transfer Yamuna Expressway’s business. It sought a stay or annulment of the voting process.
A three-member NCLAT bench headed by Chairman Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya allowed nine homebuyers’ associations representing around 5,000 buyers to file intervention application.
The voting that started on Thursday and was to continue till Sunday was to approve or reject the NBCC bid. As many as 13 banks and over 23,000 homebuyers of Jaypee Infratech have voting rights in the CoC.
In its order on Friday, the bench said, “the voting already taken is annulled.”
The bench further said, “The CoC, if required, may renegotiate with NBCC by May 30, 2019 and will start fresh voting since May 31, 2019 and onwards.”
The appellate tribunal left it to the CoC to approve the resolution plan of NBCC if it is in accordance with law.
“In case the CoC is not inclined to accept the plan they will not pass any order of rejection without prior permission of this appellate tribunal as the matter relating to their voting share and other financial creditors is pending consideration,” the tribunal said.
While allowing intervention application of homebuyers, the bench said their representative can take legal assistance considering the fact that the allottees have no expertise in the legal field. “Such legal professional is allowed to attend meeting of CoC to assist the representative but will not cast any vote nor express any opinion in the meeting,” the order said.