NCLT Delhi seeks reply from Bhushan Steel’s Monitoring Committee on policy for retirement

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06 Aug 2020, 11:19 am

On July 30, The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) at New Delhi sought response from the Monitoring Committee of debt-ridden Bhushan Power & Steel Limited (BPSL) in relation to a policy for retirement that was issued to hundreds of BPSL employees last month.
The corporate insolvency resolution process in relation to BPSL commenced in 2017 before NCLT, New Delhi. In September last year, the Tribunal approved the Resolution Plan in favour of JSW Steel Limited.
The implementation of the Resolution Plan is being monitored by the Monitoring Committee, which includes the erstwhile Resolution Professional and a Steering Committee comprising three largest financial creditors.
In July 2020, the Monitoring Committee sought to implement a Retirement Policy according to which all BPSL employees who are older than 60 years shall be retired with effect from July 31, 2020.
The validity of the Retirement Policy was challenged by Madan Kumar Goel, who is currently working as the Deputy General Manager, Indirect Taxation. It has been argued that BPSL has no power or authority to formulate and implement the policy once the Resolution Plan is approved.
The respondent submitted that even though it was a policy that had been formulated by the Monitoring Committee, the new Board had already been in place since Feb 2020. Therefore, if the said policy had been ratified by the Board, it would become valid.
The respondent submitted that no adverse action would be taken against Madan Kumar Goel until further orders or until a decision by the Board, whichever was earlier.
The Tribunal accordingly directed the Monitoring Committee to file a reply within ten days. The matter has been listed for hearing on August 28.
Goel was represented by Senior Advocate Sharan Jagtiani and Advocates Ashish Goel, Himanshu Bhushan, Shilpa Goel and Surabhi Agrawal.