Supreme Court seeks response from Vedanta on Renaissance Steel’s appeal

The Supreme Court on Monday sought response from Vedanta, State Bank of India and others on Renaissance Steel India’s appeal alleging that the Anil Agarwal-led company is ineligible to bid for the takeover of bankrupt Electrosteel Steel India, as its affiliates in Zambia has been found guilty of criminal misconduct punishable with two or more years in jail. Renaissance Steel is contesting Rs 5,320-crore resolution plan by the Vedanta group for Electrosteel, which has been approved by the Kolkata bench of the NCLT as well as the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. State Bank of India’s insolvency plea against Electrosteel, which is one of the 12 initial NPA accounts identified by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for resolution, was admitted by the Kolkata Bench of National Company Law Tribunal in July 2017. Electrosteel owes Rs 13,000 crore to lenders, led by SBI. Renaissance has questioned the eligibility of Vedanta to bid for takeover of Electrosteel on the grounds that Zambia-based Konkola Copper Mines (KCM), which is a “connected person” of the former, was found guilty under the Zambian Environment Protection and Pollution Control Act 1990. A Bench led by Justice RF Nariman sought response from Vedanta, resolution professional DhaivatAnjaria, SBI and Electrosteel after Renaissance told the apex court that the NCLAT erroneously upheld the NCLT’s April 17 order that had allowed Vedanta to make an upfront payment of Rs 5,320 crore to lenders for its proposed acquisition of Electrosteel Steel India. “The error committed by the NCLAT is to hold that a juristic person can never be imprisoned and that no individual was actually convicted in case of KCM.”