Sm Steels And Powver Ltd vs Pankaj Dhanuka Liquidator Of Corporate ...

IN THE MATTER OF: S M Steels and Power Ltd. ...Applicant Versus Pankaj Dhanuka, Liquidator of Corporate Power Ltd. & Ors. ...Respondents

Present: For Applicant : Mr. Dhruv Mehta & Mr. Krishnendu Dutta, Sr. Advocates with Mr. Anand Varma, Mr. Kaustubh Prakash, Ms. Prachi Bhatia, Mr. Anubhav Ray and Ms. Alina Merin Mathew, Advocates.

For Respondents : Mr. Niranjan Reddy, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Abhishek Swaroop, Mr. Anupm Prakash and Ms. Kirti Talreja, Advocates R-1/Liquidator.

Mr. Abhijeet Sinha, Sr. Advocate with Mr. Diwakar Maheshwari, Mr. Shaunak Mitra, Mr. Saikat Sarkar, Mr. Shreyas Edupuganti and Mr. Saptarshi Mandar, Advocates for R-3.

Mr. Udit Mendiratta, Mr. Shivkrit Rai and Ms. Apeksha Singh, Advocates for R-2.

ORDER

(Hybrid Mode)

Per: Barun Mitra, Member (Technical)

The Applicant has submitted amendment application vide IA No. 7352

of 2025 under Rule 11 and 31 of the NCLAT Rules, 2016 seeking amendment

and substitution of paragraphs 20, 21 and 23 of IA Nos. 7219/2025,

7202/2025 and 7220/2025 in CA (AT)(Ins) No. 214-216 of 2025. The

amendment application vide I.A. No. 7352 of 2025 is allowed and amended

application is taken on record. The application prays for clarification of

judgement dated 06.11.2025.

2. Briefly put, submission was made by Shri Dhruv Mehta and Shri

Krishnendu Dutta, Ld. Sr. Counsels for the Applicant that this Tribunal in its

judgment dated 06.11.2025 in Company Appeal No. 214-216 at paragraph 83

therein had directed restart of the process of private sale while putting all

prospective bidders, including Orissa Alloy Steel Pvt. Ltd. ("OASPL" in short)

and SM Steels and Power Ltd. ("SMSPL" in short) on the same footing with

retention of the reserve price at Rs 265 Cr and fixation of EMD at a reasonable

amount. It was vehemently asserted that the said judgment did not provide

for retention of OASPL as the Anchor Bidder. Hence, the fresh Public Notice

for Auction inviting submission of bids under Swiss Challenge Process for

participation in the private sale process of Corporate Power Ltd. as placed at

page 118 of IA No. 7220 of 2025 issued by the Respondent-Liquidator on

15.11.2025 read with the Process Document holding OASPL as the Anchor

Bidder is clearly in dissonance with the terms of the judgment dated

06.11.2025.

3. To capture the rival contentions made by Shri Niranjan Reddy and Shri

Abhijeet Sinha, Ld. Sr. Counsels on behalf of Respondent No.1-Liquidator and

Respondent No.2-OASPL, it was argued that the judgment dated 06.11.2025

had affirmed the private sale process through Swiss Challenge Mechanism

without interfering with the order of the Adjudicating Authority dated

20.12.2024 appointing OASPL as the Anchor Bidder. Hence, the fresh Public

Notice for Auction issued on 15.11.2025 is in line with the judgment of this

Tribunal dated 06.11.2025. It was further submitted by the Ld. Counsel for

the Liquidator that the newly issued Process Document does not in any way

seek to benefit any party including OASPL and that the Liquidator would I.A. No. 7202, 7219 & 7220 In Comp. App. (AT) (Ins.) No. 214 - 216 of 2025 2 of 3 remain bound by clarifications issued by this Tribunal in respect of its earlier

judgment dated 06.11.2025.

4. We have heard the parties and perused the records carefully.

5. The present application only seeks a clarification of the operative portion

of our judgement dated 06.11.2025 contained in para 83 thereof. Without

being unduly expansive, we choose to confine to put at rest the ambiguities in

the minds of both parties in the context of above-mentioned para 83 of the

judgment. We clarify that the intent of this Tribunal in its judgment dated

06.11.2025 was to restart the private sale process denovo where all

prospective bidders, whether new or old, including OASPL and SMSPL, were

to be all placed on parity and reserve price to be retained at Rs 265 Cr. Para

83 of the judgment cannot be read to mean or hold OASPL as Anchor Bidder.

It is therefore reiterated with all emphasis at command that the judgement of

06.11.2025 cannot be construed in any manner to have placed OASPL on the

pedestal of Anchor Bidder, explicitly or implicitly. Accordingly, the IAs are

disposed of in the above terms. No costs.

[Justice Ashok Bhushan] Chairperson

[Barun Mitra] Member (Technical) Place: New Delhi Date: 03.12.2025

Abdul

I.A. No. 7202, 7219 & 7220 In Comp. App. (AT) (Ins.) No. 214 - 216 of 2025 3 of 3