The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the implementation of Adani Enterprises’ resolution plan for Jaiprakash Associates Ltd.
The Court declined to interfere with the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal order that had rejected Vedanta Ltd’s plea for interim relief.
The Bench noted that the NCLAT has already listed Vedanta’s appeal for hearing on April 10. It requested the appellate tribunal to hear the appeal out of turn on April 10 itself. If arguments do not conclude that day, the NCLAT may take it up on the next immediate working day.
The Court also said that the monitoring committee must seek leave from the NCLAT before taking any major policy decision.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi heard the matter. At the outset, the Bench expressed reluctance to interfere because the challenge arose from an interim order of the NCLAT.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal appeared for Vedanta. He clarified that he was not asking the Supreme Court to interfere with the NCLAT order itself. He only sought a direction to ensure that the NCLAT hears Vedanta’s appeal on April 10.
Sibal said Vedanta had offered ₹17,926.21 crore. He said Adani had offered about ₹14,000 crore. According to him, Vedanta’s proposal would yield a higher amount to creditors. He added that Vedanta’s bid ranked highest in terms of both net present value and total consideration.
He argued that despite this, the Committee of Creditors was willing to hand over Jaypee to Adani for nearly ₹3,000 crore less.
Sibal also submitted that implementation of the resolution plan would result in Jaypee being delisted.
Solicitor General of India Tushar Mehta appeared for the CoC. He submitted that the difference between the two offers was Rs 500 crores. On the issue of delisting, he said the resolution plan would take at least 50 days to implement.
Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for Adani. He submitted that Vedanta had raised no substantive challenge to the resolution plan.
Senior Advocate Dr Abhishek Manu Singhvi appeared for the Resolution Professional. He submitted that Vedanta made its offer after the process had frozen. He also alleged that someone had leaked the previous offer. The Bench, however, said it would not examine the merits of those allegations.
Jaiprakash Associates Ltd operates in the construction, cement and hospitality sectors. The company entered insolvency in June 2024. The National Company Law Tribunal admitted ICICI Bank’s petition after the company faced prolonged financial stress despite multiple asset sales. The corporate insolvency resolution process then began.
During the CIRP, Vedanta submitted a bid of about Rs 17,000 crore. The Committee of Creditors, however, approved Adani Enterprises’ resolution plan valued at about Rs 15,000 crore. The CoC cited stronger upfront payment terms despite the lower total value.
The CoC approved the plan with a 93.81% vote. The National Company Law Tribunal then approved it on March 17, 2026.
Vedanta has challenged that outcome. It says the CoC did not properly consider its higher bid. It argues that this defeats the value maximisation objective under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.
Before the NCLAT, Vedanta argued that it had offered a higher net asset value of about Rs 12,505.85 crore. It also argued that the CoC wrongly ignored its addendum dated November 8, 2025. On that basis, it sought interim relief to restrain implementation of the resolution plan.
On March 24, 2026, the NCLAT refused interim relief. It allowed implementation of the plan to proceed, while making the process subject to the outcome of the appeal. Vedanta has now challenged that refusal before the Supreme Court.
Case No. – C.A. No. 4098-4099/2026
Case Title – Vedanta Limited v. Bhuvan Madan and Ors.
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