Bhushan-JSW: Government weighs legal options after SC order

MUMBAI: government is weighing its legal options after the Supreme Court ordered the liquidation of Bhushan Power and Steel, rejecting JSW Steel's Rs 19,350-crore acquisition bid. Department of financial services secretary M Nagaraju said a response would be finalised "soon".

"I already reviewed the order with all the lenders. We took a position, studied the judgement, and got our advocates' view on the judgment. Now we are taking a view in government on how to approach the judgment. We will finalise soon," he said.

The ruling, delivered by a bench led by Justices Bela Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma, cited JSW's failure to implement the resolution plan for over two years. It dealt a blow to lenders, including SBI and PNB, who now face steeper losses. Over 11 banks already recovered Rs 19,300 crore from the proposed JSW deal.

Macquarie noted that JSW could file a review petition within 30 days. Such petitions are restricted to correcting errors or presenting new evidence and do not allow for a rehearing. If dismissed, JSW may pursue a curative petition or participate in the liquidation process to regain Bhushan Power and Steel.

"There are several legal options" under consideration, Nagaraju said, promising to announce government's stance once determined.

Separately, Nagaraju said the IDBI Bank stake sale would be completed this calendar year. "The target is, this calendar year we will complete," he said at an event hosted by the National Housing Bank.