R.M. Borde, J.

1. Petitioner No.1Jayaswal Neco Industries Limited (JNIL) is a public limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, having its registered office at Nagpur.

2. The challenge raised in the instant Petition is in respect of the action of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)Respondent No.1 herein, of( a) retrospectively applying the internal communications dated 29 September 2017 and 30 November 2017; (b) stalling the implementation of final executed Master Restructuring Agreement (MRA) dated 12 December 2017, executed by 10 out of 12 lenders (which corresponds to approximately 91% of creditors by value); (c) failing to consider or respond to Petitioner No.1's representations dated 15 December 2017, 16 December 2017, 22 December 2017 and 26 December 2017 and; (d) not considering and discrediting the credit opinion obtained from SMERA, which is one of the accredited Credit Rating Agency (CRA), in terms of its circular dated 13 June 2017 and directing Respondent No.2State Bank of India (SBI) to appoint third CRA i.e. India Ratings and Research Private Limited (IRRPL) on 7 December 2017, for the purpose of obtaining fresh credit rating by Respondent No.2SBI, knowing well that the deadline is 13 December 2017. The Petitioner has also prayed for grant of interim relief, restraining Respondent Nos. 2 to 13 from initiating or prosecuting any proceedings against Petitioner No.1JNIL under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) before the National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai, pursuant to the directives issued by the RBI.

3. The Petitioner company has a large quantum of stressed assets and it was classified as Nonperforming Assets (NPA) w.e.f 31 January 2015. The RBI has released the framework for a revitalizing distressed assets in the economy. The framework outlined the steps towards the early recognition of the financial distress, steps for resolution and fair recovery for lenders.

4. The RBI issued detailed guidelines for formation of Joint Lenders Forum (JLF) and adoption of Corrective Action Plan (CAP) for operationalizing the framework. The JLF guidelines also prescribed that the lenders can formulate and sign an agreement, which may be called JLF Agreement, incorporating the broad rules for functioning of JLF. It also prescribed that, while JLF formation and subsequent corrective actions will be mandatory in the accounts, having aggregate exposure of Rs.1000/- millions and above, in the other cases also the lenders will have to monitor the asset quality closely and take corrective action for effective resolution as deemed appropriate. The JLF is expected to explore various options to resolve the stress in the account. There are various options under the CAP by the JLF, such as rectification, restructuring, recovery etc.

5. In the case of Petitioner company, the JLF held first meeting on 17 March 2017 wherein, it was decided and agreed to hold back NCLT proceedings till April 2017. In the meeting of JLF held on 7 September 2017, the debt resolution (restructuring scheme) of the Petitioner No.1JNIL was approved with supermajority.

6. As per the directions issued by the RBI on 28 August 2017, any resolution plan finalized out side IBC, it will be subject to the rating requirement i.e. the residual debt must be rated as an investment grade by two external CRAs accredited by the RBI. The RBI, in its circular dated 13 June 2017, prescribed time limit of six months for finalizing the resolution plan out side the IBC. It is specified in para 4 of the circular that -

“4. As regards the other nonperforming accounts which do not qualify under the above criteria, the IAC (Internal Advisory Committee) recommended that banks should finalize a resolution plan within six months. In cases where a viable resolution plan is not agreed upon within six months, banks should be required to file for insolvency proceedings under the IBC."

7. The SBI, having regard to the deadline of 13 December 2017 as prescribed by the RBI