Vedanta has moved the Supreme Court, seeking a stay on the resolution plan submitted by the Adani Group for assets of now insolvent Jaypee Group, people with direct knowledge of the matter told a source.

The move comes after the National Company Law Appellant Tribunal (NCLAT) refused to stay the resolution plan last week. Vedanta is expected to argue its resolution plan had better value than Adani Group’s and committee of creditors (CoC) erred in rejecting its plan. The case is expected to come up for hearing in the next couple of weeks, sources said.

The development assumes significance, as chairman Anil Agrawal had on March 29 posted on the social media platform X that Vedanta was already approved as a successful bidder for Jaypee Assets, however, the decision was changed.

“Recently, the asset went into a public auction by CoC in the IBC process. Many strong bidders participated. Suddenly, the sentiment and wishes of Jaiprakash Gaur ji came rushing back to me. One by one, everyone dropped out of the bidding. Finally, we were declared the highest bidder publicly. It was a transparent process. We were informed in writing that we had won. But life is never so simple. After some days, the decision was changed. Don’t want to go into the details," Agarwal said.

War of bids

Last week NCLAT rejected Vedanta’s plea to stay Adani Group’s resolution plan for Jaypee assets. However, the tribunal sought responses from all parties for the main petition and is expected to hear the case again on April 14.

While Vedanta declined to comment, A Source emailed queries to the Adani Group remained unanswered.

At the heart of the dispute are the assets owned by now bankrupt Jaypee Group, which defaulted on loans worth Rs 57,000 crore. According to the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code(IBC), potential buyers were asked to submit bids by June 24, 2025.

Both Adani Group and Vedanta had bid for these assets and were considered frontrunners. The Adani group won the bidding as about 90 percent of the creditors had voted in favour of its resolution plan.

Adani offered to pay Rs 14,535 crore, of which upfront cash was Rs 6,000 crore while the rest was payable in two to three years. On the other hand, Vedanta submitted a an initial bid of Rs 17,000 crore, of which the upfront cash component was about Rs 4,000 crore and the rest payable over six years.

Creditors had taken a stance that the Adani proposal offered better value since upfront payment was higher and further creditors would receive the cash in two-three years compared to Vedanta’s six years.

Vedanta revised its bid in November, making it more competitive. Under the revised bid, Vedanta would pay a total amount of Rs 16,726 crore of which Rs 6,563 crore were to be paid upfront while rest is payable in five years.

Vedanta moved the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Allahabad, in January, contesting the decision of creditors approving the Adani Group plan. The company told the tribunal it was the highest bidder for Jaypee assets with superior Net Present Value(NPV) and despite that creditors had approved a plan that had lower value.

Vedanta also added IBC was created for value maximisation of insolvent assets and hence it is the duty of the creditors to ensure they make highest possible recovery.

The company alleged the creditors had failed in their fiduciary duty of ensure maximum recovery and prayed to the tribunal to set aside the resolution plan submitted by Adani Group. On March 17, NCLT dismissed Vedanta’s case and approved Adani Group’s resolution plan prompting the company to move NCLAT.

“Vedanta has questioned the merits of the decision taken by the creditors of Jaypee Group. Under IBC, the commercial wisdom of CoC  is considered sacrosanct and there are no rules on which bid should be approved. So far, NCLT and NCLAT had acknowledged the same while it needs to be seen what stance the Supreme Court will take,” said a lawyer privy to the development.