A newly constituted five-member bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday stayed an order approving Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra‘s Rs 6.25-crore repayment plan against admitted creditor claims of over Rs 22,006 crore, as per ANI. The bench also barred him from selling or transferring his properties while the matter is heard afresh.
The order comes just a week after the tribunal had cleared the repayment proposal, a figure that drew sharp criticism from lenders given the scale of claims involved.
NCLT stays Subhash Chandra’s Rs 6.25-crore repayment plan
The bench, headed by NCLT President Justice (retd) Anupinder Singh Grewal, issued notices to all parties, including Chandra, and sought their responses, as per PTI. It clarified that the August 25 order approving the plan cannot be given effect to for now, since no majority view had emerged among the members.
“Let notice be issued to all the parties,” the bench said, as per PTI. It added, “We also direct that the guarantor shall not alienate the properties, either directly or indirectly.”
Justice Grewal said the bench wanted to first understand the scope of the matter before proceeding further. “You can address your concerns, whatever they are. Then we will, around the next date, take up whatever questions have come up,” he told the parties present, PTI reported.
Why NCLT formed a five-member bench to review Subhash Chandra’s insolvency case
The case had earlier gone before a two-member division bench of Judicial Member Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj and Technical Member Reena Sinha Puri, which delivered a split verdict on the repayment plan, as per an ANI report. It was then referred to a third member, Nilesh Sharma, who on August 25 gave an opinion favouring approval.
However, the original two members subsequently found that all three members had taken materially different positions, meaning no clear majority had actually emerged, as per ANI. This led to the constitution of the larger five-member bench to resolve the deadlock.
Chandra’s plan offers Rs 6.25 crore to creditors, along with Rs 25 lakh towards insolvency resolution process costs, as per ANI. Several lenders had objected to the proposal, questioning both the low recovery amount and the voting process, including the participation of entities they allege are linked to Chandra.
Why Subhash Chandra faces Rs 22,006 crore in creditor claims
The insolvency proceedings against Chandra stem from personal guarantees he furnished for loans taken by companies linked to the Essel Group, as per the ANI report. Indiabulls Housing Finance, now Sammaan Capital, had moved against him in 2022 after a loan to Vivek Infracon turned bad. The plea was admitted in 2024, after which several other creditors joined the proceedings.
Chandra, for his part, has said the Rs 22,006-crore figure has been widely misread, as per PTI. He maintains it reflects claims arising from personal guarantees for Essel Group companies’ borrowings, not money he personally took on.
Zee Entertainment share price: Stock falls after NCLT order
Zee Entertainment’s stock is trading at its intraday low post the judgement. The company’s share price has been down 4.33% in the past month and it has been further down 17.73% in the past year.