Subhash Chandra
| Photo Credit:
Kavithaa Sri R _12192
A five-member Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has stayed a smaller Bench order on August 25 approving a ₹ 6.25-crore repayment plan proposed by Essel Group founder Subhash Chandra, observing that there was no clear majority view among the members who had earlier heard the matter. The Bench also restrained Chandra, described in the order as the guarantor, from alienating any of his properties, either directly or indirectly, and issued notices to all parties in the proceedings.The company petition, IB 97/ND/2022, was originally heard by a Division Bench comprising Member (Judicial) Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj and Member (Technical) Reena Sinha Puri. Differences between the two members led to the matter being placed before the then NCLT President, who referred it to a third member for his opinion. The third member heard the matter on February 20, 2026, and pronounced the judgment on August 25. The August 25 order was subsequently placed before the consequential Bench on August 31 for further orders.After examining the orders passed by the three members, the five-member Bench noted that “there are differences” in their views.Notice to parties“All said and done, no majority view has emerged in the matter. In the way, no order can be passed at this stage. Resultantly, we have no option but to make fresh reference to the honourable president in terms of the provisions of section 419(5) (of companies act 2013),” the Bench said. The Bench directed that notices be issued to all parties and ordered that the guarantor “shall not alienate the properties either directly or indirectly”.The dispute relates to insolvency proceedings against Chandra in his capacity as a personal guarantor for debts of Essel/Zee-linked companies. Claims of about ₹22,006 crore have been admitted against him, but this figure does not represent money personally borrowed by Chandra or loans originally extended on the strength of his personal guarantee. According to the background to the case, only about ₹2,574 crore of the claims relate to loans for which Chandra had provided his personal guarantee at the time of the original borrowing, while several other guarantees were furnished subsequently as additional security.Dividend BenchThe Tribunal said perusal of the orders of the three members indicates that while Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj has approved the resolution plan, Reena Sinha Puri, Member Technical, rejected the resolution plan by holding there were various irregularities in the process including those relating to admissions of claims and repayment plans.The proceedings against Chandra arose following a default on a loan to Vivek Infracon from Indiabulls for which he had stood as guarantor. The proposed settlement of his personal-guarantor liability involves payment of about ₹6.25 crore from his personal estate.Creditors had challenged the extent of Chandra’s presently realisable assets, pointing to historical net-worth certificates showing a net worth of ₹45,888 crore in 2017 and ₹40,562 crore in 2018, against a presently disclosed net worth of about ₹31.79 crore.Published on September 1, 2026
