REPORTABLE IN THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA CIVIL ORIGINAL/APPELLATE JURISDICTION CIVIL APPEAL NO. 8766-67 OF 2019 DIARY NO.24417 OF 2019 Committee of Creditors of Essar Steel India Limited Through Authorised Signatory ...Appellant Versus Satish Kumar Gupta & Ors. ...Respondents WITH CIVIL APPEAL NOS.5634-5635 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NOS.5636-5637 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NOS.5716-5719 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO.5996 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO.6266 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO.6269 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1055 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1064 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1049 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1050 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1057 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1058 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1061 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1060 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1056 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO.6409 OF 2019 Signature Not Verified Digitally signed by R WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1063 OF 2019 NATARAJAN Date: 2019.11.15

15:04:12 IST Reason:

CIVIL APPEAL NOS.6433-6434 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1066 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1087 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1110 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1113 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1121 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO._8768_OF 2019 DIARY NO.31409 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO.7266 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO.7260 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1246 OF 2019 CIVIL APPEAL NO._8769_OF 2019 DIARY NO.36838 OF 2019 WRIT PETITION (CIVIL) NO.1296 OF 2019

J U D G M E N T

R.F. Nariman, J Delay Condoned in Civil Appeal Diary No. 31409 of 2019 and Civil Appeal Diary No. 36838 of 2019. I.A. No. 102638 of 2019 in Civil Appeal Diary No. 24417 of 2019 for Permission to File Appeal allowed. Appeal Admitted.

1. This group of appeals and writ petitions raises important questions as to the role of resolution applicants, resolution professionals, the Committee of Creditors that are constituted under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (hereinafter referred to as “the Code”), and last, but by no means the least, the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “NCLT”/“Adjudicating Authority”) and the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as “NCLAT”/“Appellate Tribunal”), qua resolution plans that have been approved by the Committee of Creditors. The constitutional validity of Sections 4 and 6 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as the “Amending Act of 2019”) have also been challenged. These appeals and writ petitions are an aftermath of this Court’s judgment dated 04.10.2018, reported as ArcelorMittal India Private Limited v. Satish Kumar Gupta (2019) 2 SCC 1.

2. On 02.08.2017, the NCLT, Ahmedabad admitted Company Petition (I.B.) No. 39 of 2017 filed by Standard Chartered Bank together with a Petition filed by the State Bank of India under Section 7 of the Code. One Satish Kumar Gupta was appointed as the interim resolution professional, who was later confirmed as resolution professional. On 06.10.2017, the resolution professional by way of an advertisement in the Economic Times, invited expressions of interest from all interested resolution applicants to present resolution plans for rehabilitating the corporate debtor, namely, Essar Steel India Limited. On 24.12.2017, the resolution professional issued a request for proposal (hereinafter referred to as “RFP”), inter alia, inviting resolution plans for the aforesaid corporate debtor, which was later amended on 08.02.2018. Two resolution plans were submitted on

12.02.2018, one by ArcelorMittal India Private Limited (hereinafter referred to as “ArcelorMittal”) and another by Numetal Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Numetal”) both of which were found to be ineligible under Section 29-A of the Code. On 02.04.2018, resolution plans were then submitted by ArcelorMittal, Numetal and one Vedanta Limited (hereinafter referred to as “Vedanta”). The resolution plan of ArcelorMittal specifically provided for an upfront payment