Part 8 of 8 · Landmark Resolutions — Case Studies

In-depth case studies of high-profile resolutions: Aircel, Videocon, Jaypee Infratech, Jet Airways and Byju's.

6 Cases · Global Nos. 39–89 of 89
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Sourcing note: Built from well-established, widely-reported holdings rather than quoted judgment text. Bench composition (exact judges) is generally omitted since it isn't reliably verifiable here — confirm against the official judgment if your prep needs it. Facts, ratio, and cross-references reflect the settled understanding of each ruling.
Case 39 of 89 · Non-Implementation of a Resolution Plan & LiquidationVerified
State Bank of India & Ors. Vs. The Consortium of Mr. Murari Lal Jalan and Mr. Florian Fritsch & Anr.
Supreme Court · Civil Appeal Nos. 5023-5024 of 2024 (decided 7 November 2024)

Jet Airways (India) Limited was admitted into CIRP on 20 June 2019 on SBI's Section 7 application, with total admitted claims of approximately Rs. 7,800 crore. The Committee of Creditors approved a resolution plan submitted by the Jalan-Fritsch Consortium (Murari Lal Jalan and Florian Fritsch of Kalrock Capital), which the NCLT approved on 22 June 2021. The plan required a Performance Bank Guarantee (PBG) of Rs. 150 crore and a first tranche cash infusion of Rs. 350 crore, due by 31 August 2023. The Successful Resolution Applicant (SRA) sought to adjust the PBG amount against the first tranche payment obligation rather than paying in cash; the NCLAT permitted this adjustment, prompting SBI's challenge.

The Supreme Court first ruled on the PBG adjustment question on 18 January 2024, holding the PBG could not be adjusted against the tranche payment and had to be kept alive until full implementation of the plan (per Regulation 36B(4A) of the CIRP Regulations), directing the SRA to infuse Rs. 150 crore in cash by 31 January 2024. The SRA failed to comply. The matter returned to the Supreme Court, which examined the SRA's overall track record of implementation — including failure to infuse the Rs. 350 crore first tranche, default on CIRP costs including airport dues, and failure to pay Provident Fund and Gratuity dues as the NCLAT had directed on 21 October 2022 — before delivering its final judgment.

The Supreme Court (Bench: CJI D.Y. Chandrachud, J.B. Pardiwala J., Manoj Misra J.) held that non-implementation of an approved resolution plan can, under Section 33(3) of the IBC, result in liquidation of the corporate debtor. Finding the SRA had defaulted on multiple, cumulative fronts over an extended period despite opportunities to cure, the Court directed the liquidation of Jet Airways, emphasising that "timely liquidation" should be preferred over an "endless resolution process," and that the going-concern objective of the Code must not come at the cost of efficiency and finality.

One of the most significant recent rulings in Indian insolvency law — essential for understanding what happens when an approved plan fails in practice, not just in theory.

  1. Under which provision of the IBC can non-implementation of an approved resolution plan lead to liquidation?
    Show answer
    Section 33(3), which allows liquidation where the corporate debtor contravenes the provisions of an approved resolution plan.
  2. What specific failures by the Successful Resolution Applicant led the Supreme Court to order liquidation?
    Show answer
    Failure to infuse the first tranche of Rs. 350 crore, default on CIRP costs including airport dues, non-payment of Provident Fund and Gratuity dues as directed, and non-compliance with the Supreme Court's own earlier order on the Performance Bank Guarantee.
  3. What phrase did the Supreme Court use to summarise its preference between prolonging resolution efforts and moving to liquidation in this case?
    Show answer
    "Timely liquidation" should be preferred over an "endless resolution process."
  4. Why is this case a useful counterweight to cases emphasising resolution plan finality, like Ghanashyam Mishra?
    Show answer
    Because it shows that "finality" of an approved plan is conditioned on the SRA actually implementing it — an approved plan is not a permanent shield if the resolution applicant subsequently fails, over an extended period and on multiple fronts, to perform its obligations under that very plan.
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Case 83 of 89 · A Resolution Plan Stalled by Years of LitigationVerified
In the Matter of Aircel Limited
NCLT, Mumbai Bench · IA No. 1403-2022 in C.P. (IB) No. 298/MB/2018 (order 21 December 2023)

Aircel Limited, Aircel Cellular Limited, and Dishnet Wireless Limited filed for voluntary insolvency in March 2018, admitted by the NCLT (12 and 19 March 2018), after defaulting on over Rs. 13,729 crore owed to SBI-led lenders and facing a Rs. 9,894 crore claim from the Department of Telecommunications for unpaid licence fees and spectrum usage charges. UV Asset Reconstruction Company's resolution plan — which included monetising assets such as 14,500 km of optical fibre cable laid across the country — was approved by the CoC (13 May 2019) and sanctioned by the NCLT (9 June 2020). Implementation was to commence from an "Effective Date" shortly after approval, subject to RBI approval for certain aspects of the plan.

The Approval Order was challenged before the NCLAT in multiple appeals filed by various creditors, which remained pending for years. Separately, fundamental questions about the treatment of spectrum in insolvency proceedings (addressed in Union of India Vs. Vijaykumar V. Iyer, Case 58, and ultimately resolved by the Supreme Court in SBI Vs. Union of India, Case 59, only in February 2026) remained unresolved for years. Given this prolonged impasse, UV Asset Reconstruction Company applied to the NCLT (IA No. 1403/2022) for leave to nominate an alternate entity — not restricted by Section 29A — to implement the plan in its place, since it could not itself proceed without RBI approval it was unable to secure.

The NCLT observed that implementation of the approved plan could only proceed once the Supreme Court decided the pending spectrum-related litigation in favour of the applicant and the lenders, and noted the Approval Order itself remained impugned in several pending NCLAT appeals. Given these multiple, unresolved, parallel litigations before both the Supreme Court and the NCLAT, the resolution plan had simply not yet reached the stage where implementation was possible. The Tribunal held the application to substitute the implementing entity was accordingly premature, and dismissed it — there was no purpose in authorising a substitute implementer for a plan that could not yet be implemented at all.

A sobering, practical illustration that a resolution plan's approval is not the end of the story — genuine implementation can be held hostage to unresolved higher-court litigation for years, a reality candidates should factor into any case study about "what happens after approval."

  1. Why had Aircel's approved resolution plan still not reached implementation more than three years after NCLT sanctioned it?
    Show answer
    Because the Approval Order remained impugned in multiple pending NCLAT appeals, and fundamental questions about the treatment of spectrum in insolvency (ultimately resolved only years later by the Supreme Court) remained unresolved.
  2. Why did the NCLT dismiss UV Asset Reconstruction Company's application to substitute an alternate implementing entity?
    Show answer
    Because the plan had not yet reached the stage of implementation at all, given the pending litigation — there was no purpose in authorising a substitute implementer for a plan that couldn't be implemented regardless of who was nominated.
  3. How did the related Madras High Court ruling in Aircel Cellular Vs. Union of India apply the clean-slate doctrine to DoT's claim?
    Show answer
    It held that once the resolution plan was approved, DoT's claim stood frozen at the amount provided in the plan — a small fraction of the total claimed — consistent with Ghanashyam Mishra's principle that no claim outside the approved plan survives.
  4. How did the Madras High Court distinguish this case from DBS Bank Vs. Ruchi Soya's treatment of an unlodged claim?
    Show answer
    Unlike the claimant in Ruchi Soya, who had not lodged any claim during the CIRP process at all, DoT had properly lodged its claim in the Aircel matter — meaning the clean-slate freezing principle applied to DoT's claim at the plan-approved amount, rather than DoT's claim surviving separately outside the process.
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Case 84 of 89 · Group Insolvency, Commercial Wisdom's Limits, & ConfidentialityVerified
In the Matter of Videocon Industries Ltd.
NCLT, Mumbai Bench (Approval Order, 8 June 2021); reversed by NCLAT (5 January 2022); companion ruling on VOVL separation (NCLAT)

Videocon Industries Limited (VIL), carrying debt of roughly Rs. 35,000 crore, entered CIRP on 6 June 2018 on SBI's Section 7 application. At the instance of erstwhile promoter Venugopal Dhoot, the CIRP of VIL was consolidated with 12 other Videocon group entities — including Videocon Oil Ventures Ltd. (VOVL), which had separately entered CIRP in November 2019 — bringing total admitted claims across the consolidated group to Rs. 64,838.63 crore (out of Rs. 71,433.75 crore claimed). Dhoot's Section 12A withdrawal proposal was rejected by lenders with 98.14% of votes against. The CoC approved a resolution plan submitted by Twin Star Technologies (a Vedanta Resources group entity led by Anil Agarwal) with 95.09% votes on 11 December 2020 — offering just Rs. 2,962.02 crore for the entire 13-company group, representing only 4.15% of admitted claims (a 95.85% haircut), with the bid value very close to the assessed liquidation value of Rs. 2,568 crore (against a fair value of Rs. 4,069 crore).

The NCLT approved the plan on 8 June 2021, but the order itself expressed serious concern: the successful applicant was "paying almost nothing," and the Tribunal was surprised the bid was so close to the liquidation value — a figure meant to remain strictly confidential from bidders — asking IBBI to investigate whether confidentiality had been breached during the process. It also suggested the CoC and applicant increase payouts, particularly to MSME operational creditors, though these suggestions were not binding conditions of approval. Dissenting creditors (Bank of Maharashtra, SIDBI, IFCI, and ABG Shipyard) appealed to the NCLAT, which granted an interim stay in July 2021; notably, even some originally assenting creditors joined the appeal, stating they felt duty-bound to reconsider their vote "in larger public interest" given the unprecedented haircut.

The NCLAT (5 January 2022) set aside both the CoC's approval and the NCLT's sanction of the plan, holding that Section 30(2)(b) of the Code had not been complied with, meaning the approval was not in accordance with Section 31. The matter was remitted back to the CoC for completion of the CIRP process afresh, in accordance with the Code's provisions. In a related, separate ruling, the NCLAT also set aside an earlier NCLT order that had directed clubbing of VIL's and VOVL's CIRPs, holding the two should proceed independently — reasoning that creditors had intended separate processes given the distinct nature of VOVL's specialised oil-and-gas assets and the need for specialised resolution treatment.

One of the richest, most multi-layered cases in the entire syllabus — a genuine illustration of group insolvency mechanics, the real (if rare) limits of CoC deference, and the practical consequences of confidentiality concerns in a resolution process.

  1. Why did the NCLAT set aside the approved resolution plan for the Videocon group, despite the CoC having approved it with 95.09% votes?
    Show answer
    Because Section 30(2)(b) of the Code had not been complied with, making the plan's approval inconsistent with Section 31 — the extreme 95.85% haircut and concerns about the bid's suspicious closeness to the confidential liquidation value undermined the plan's compliance with this fairness requirement.
  2. What concern did the NCLT itself raise, even while approving the plan?
    Show answer
    That the successful applicant was "paying almost nothing," with its bid suspiciously close to the liquidation value — a figure meant to be kept strictly confidential — prompting the Tribunal to ask IBBI to investigate whether confidentiality had been breached during the process.
  3. What did the NCLAT hold regarding consolidation of VIL's and VOVL's CIRPs?
    Show answer
    It set aside an earlier order directing their consolidation, holding the two entities' CIRPs should proceed independently, given creditors' original intent and the distinct, specialised nature of VOVL's oil-and-gas business.
  4. How does this case refine the general understanding of Pratap Technocrats' "liquidation value floor" principle?
    Show answer
    Pratap Technocrats holds that meeting the liquidation-value floor generally satisfies Section 30(2)(b); this case shows that even a bid nominally at or near that floor can still fail the fairness requirement if the process's integrity — such as the confidentiality of the liquidation value itself — is credibly called into question.
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Case 85 of 89 · The Jaypee Infratech Resolution — Approval After Years of DelayVerified
Approval of Resolution Plan — Jaypee Infratech Limited
NCLT, Special Bench, New Delhi · IA No. 2836, 3306 & 3457/PB/2021 and IA No. 2521/PB/2022 in Company Petition No. (IB)-77(ALD)/2017 (order dated 7 March 2023)

Jaypee Infratech Limited (JIL), a subsidiary of Jaiprakash Associates Limited (JAL), entered CIRP in August 2017 on an IDBI Bank-led consortium's Section 7 application, with Anuj Jain appointed IRP/RP — the same Anuj Jain central to the avoidance-transactions ruling in Anuj Jain Vs. Axis Bank (Case 13). Over 20,000 homebuyers across housing projects in Noida and Greater Noida were affected by the prolonged proceedings. An earlier NCLT approval of a resolution plan by NBCC (state-owned, March 2020) proved contentious, with the Supreme Court issuing directions in Jaypee Kensington Boulevard Apartments Welfare Association Vs. NBCC (India) Ltd. Ultimately, two bidders competed for a fresh round: NBCC (offering Rs. 6,536 crore) and the Suraksha Group — comprising Suraksha Realty Ltd. and Lakshdeep Investments and Finance Pvt. Ltd. — offering Rs. 7,736 crore. The CoC approved Suraksha's bid, and the IRP filed the plan with the NCLT in July 2021.

Multiple parties filed objections before the NCLT: ICICI Bank (IA 3457/PB/2021), the Yamuna Expressway Industrial Development Authority (IA 3306/PB/2021, concerning YEIDA's own dues and development-rights treatment — the same underlying dispute later litigated on appeal in Yamuna Expressway IDA Vs. Monitoring Committee of Jaypee Infratech, Case 63), JAL and Manoj Gaur (the original promoters), and a separate homebuyer-related application by Ms. Nina Sahani and others (IA 2521/PB/2022). The Special Bench heard and addressed each objection individually over the course of an extensive, detailed order.

The NCLT approved Suraksha Group's resolution plan under Section 30(6) of the IBC on 7 March 2023, addressing and overruling each specific objection while granting certain reliefs and concessions within the order itself, and giving directions aimed at ensuring completion of pending housing projects for the benefit of the affected homebuyers. Even after this approval, however, YEIDA and JAL appealed to the NCLAT — the very appeal resolved over a year later in Case 63 (disposed 24 May 2024, resolution plan upheld) — and the Monitoring Committee overseeing implementation separately had to approach the NCLT in early 2024 seeking directions to ensure the plan's smooth and effective implementation, since progress had stalled pending the appellate challenges. Further litigation continued at the Supreme Court level even after the NCLAT's 2024 disposal, including separate appeals involving Suraksha Realty and other affected parties.

A capstone case tying together nearly every major thread in the Jaypee Infratech saga — an essential reference point for any case study on prolonged, multi-bidder CIRPs involving large numbers of home buyers and competing stakeholder objections.

  1. Which two bidders competed for Jaypee Infratech in the final round of the resolution process, and who prevailed?
    Show answer
    NBCC (state-owned, offering Rs. 6,536 crore) and the Suraksha Group (Suraksha Realty Ltd. and Lakshdeep Investments and Finance Pvt. Ltd., offering Rs. 7,736 crore) — the CoC approved Suraksha's higher bid.
  2. What categories of objections did the NCLT have to address before approving the plan?
    Show answer
    Objections from ICICI Bank, from YEIDA (concerning its own dues and development-rights treatment), from the original promoters (JAL and Manoj Gaur), and a separate homebuyer-related application.
  3. Did NCLT's approval of the plan in March 2023 mark the end of the Jaypee Infratech insolvency saga?
    Show answer
    No — YEIDA and JAL appealed to the NCLAT, a challenge not finally resolved until May 2024, and the Monitoring Committee had to separately seek NCLT directions in early 2024 to get stalled implementation moving, with further litigation continuing at the Supreme Court level even afterward.
  4. How does this case connect to the earlier-covered Yamuna Expressway IDA ruling (Case 63)?
    Show answer
    This NCLT order is the very approval that YEIDA challenged in the appeal decided in Case 63 — together the two cases give the complete procedural arc, from initial approval through final appellate resolution of YEIDA's specific compensation-related objection.
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Case 86 of 89 · India's Landmark Cross-Border Insolvency CaseVerified
In the Matter of Jet Airways (India) Ltd.
NCLT, Mumbai Bench · CP (IB) No. 2205/MB/2019 (admission order, June 2019)

Jet Airways, once India's second-largest airline, faced escalating financial distress through late 2018 and early 2019. Naresh Goyal and his wife stepped down from the board on 25 March 2019. On 5 April 2019, its fuel supplier, Indian Oil Corporation, refused to refuel its planes without payment, forcing Jet Airways to suspend all flights — its last flight departed Amritsar on 17 April 2019. On 17 June 2019, lenders referred the company to the NCLT. Three petitions were filed: a Section 7 petition by financial creditors (CP 2205/2019) and two separate Section 9 petitions by operational creditors (CP 1968/2019 and CP 1938/2019). Notably, at the first hearing, the NCLT was informed that insolvency proceedings against Jet Airways had already begun a month earlier in the District Court of the Netherlands, given the airline's significant European operations.

The NCLT observed that conducting concurrent Indian and Dutch proceedings over the same matter would cause delay and could vitiate the process. Grant Thornton and SBI Capital Markets were appointed as professional and process advisors respectively, with Ashish Chhawchharia (of Grant Thornton) taking the CIRP forward.

The NCLT admitted the Section 7 petition (CP 2205/2019), initiating CIRP and suspending the powers of Jet Airways' board of directors in favour of the Resolution Professional. The two Section 9 petitions were dismissed, with the NCLT holding those petitioners were at liberty to file their claims before the Resolution Professional in the now-admitted proceeding, rather than maintaining separate, duplicate insolvency applications. On the cross-border dimension, the NCLT initially declared the parallel Dutch bankruptcy proceedings null and void — but on appeal, the NCLAT took a more cooperative approach, allowing the Dutch Administrator to participate in Committee of Creditors meetings, rather than treating the foreign proceeding as entirely without effect.

Essential background for understanding India's current approach — and its gaps — in handling insolvencies with a genuine cross-border dimension, a topic likely to grow in importance as Indian companies' international operations expand.

  1. What happened to the two Section 9 petitions filed by operational creditors against Jet Airways?
    Show answer
    They were dismissed, with the NCLT holding those petitioners could instead file their claims before the Resolution Professional in the admitted Section 7 proceeding, avoiding duplicate parallel insolvency processes.
  2. What cross-border complication arose at the very first hearing of Jet Airways' Indian insolvency case?
    Show answer
    The NCLT was informed that insolvency proceedings against Jet Airways had already begun a month earlier in the District Court of the Netherlands, given the airline's substantial European operations.
  3. How did the NCLAT's approach to the Dutch proceedings differ from the NCLT's initial position?
    Show answer
    The NCLT had initially declared the Dutch proceedings null and void; the NCLAT instead took a more cooperative approach, allowing the Dutch Administrator to participate in CoC meetings rather than disregarding the foreign proceeding entirely.
  4. Why is this case considered significant for India's cross-border insolvency framework specifically?
    Show answer
    Because the IBC does not yet incorporate a comprehensive cross-border insolvency mechanism like the UNCITRAL Model Law, this case shows how Indian tribunals have had to improvise practical, case-by-case solutions (like permitting a foreign administrator's CoC participation) in the absence of a dedicated statutory framework.
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Case 89 of 89 · Completing the Videocon Saga — VOVL's Specialised ResolutionVerified
Mr. Pravin R. Navandar, RP of VOVL Ltd. Vs. BPRL Ventures BV & Anr.
NCLT, Mumbai Bench (approval order, June 2024) & connected NCLAT proceedings (final order 14 May 2026)

Videocon Oil Ventures Ltd. (VOVL) — the specialised oil-and-gas arm of the Videocon Group, held valuable interests including a 25% stake in the Ravva oil and gas field (alongside ONGC and Vedanta's Cairn Oil & Gas) and a 65.40% stake in IBV Brazil Petroleo Limitada, held through a joint venture with BPRL Ventures BV (the international upstream arm of state-owned Bharat Petroleum). As VOVL's existing joint venture partner in the Brazilian assets, BPRL Ventures held a Right of First Refusal (ROFR), which it exercised to acquire VOVL's interest as part of the insolvency resolution process, with Pravin R. Navandar serving as RP/Liquidator throughout.

The NCLT approved BPRL's acquisition via ROFR in June 2024. This approval was challenged before the NCLAT by competing parties, including rival bidder Prio S.A., while original promoter Venugopal Dhoot separately pursued an appeal to the Supreme Court (Civil Appeal No. 10720/2024) — against the broader backdrop of an earlier, related dispute over whether VOVL's CIRP should be consolidated with Videocon Industries Ltd. (VIL) and 12 other group entities (the same underlying question addressed in Case 84).

The NCLAT's final order (14 May 2026) validated BPRL Ventures' acquisition of VOVL as originally approved by the NCLT in June 2024, while separately holding that VIL's and VOVL's CIRPs should proceed independently rather than as a consolidated group process — the Tribunal reasoned that VIL (consumer electronics) and VOVL (oil and gas) operate in fundamentally different sectors, each requiring specialised expertise for successful restructuring, making a single, combined resolution process impractical. The NCLAT endorsed the CoC's strategic choice to pursue separate, specialised resolutions for each entity.

Completes the Videocon group insolvency narrative and offers a genuinely useful illustration of how specialised, sector-specific assets within a larger corporate group can be carved out for tailored resolution rather than forced into a one-size-fits-all consolidated process.

  1. Why did the NCLAT ultimately hold that VIL's and VOVL's CIRPs should proceed separately rather than as a consolidated group?
    Show answer
    Because the two entities operate in fundamentally different sectors — consumer electronics for VIL and oil and gas for VOVL — each requiring specialised expertise for successful restructuring, making a single combined process impractical.
  2. How did BPRL Ventures come to acquire VOVL's interest in the Brazilian oil and gas assets?
    Show answer
    As VOVL's existing joint venture partner in those assets, BPRL Ventures held a Right of First Refusal, which it exercised to acquire VOVL's interest as part of the insolvency resolution process.
  3. Did the NCLAT's final ruling uphold or reject the NCLT's June 2024 approval of the BPRL acquisition?
    Show answer
    It upheld and validated the acquisition as originally approved by the NCLT.
  4. How does this case relate to the broader Videocon Industries ruling already covered in Case 84?
    Show answer
    This is the specific dispute underlying the "companion ruling" referenced there — together, the two cases show both halves of the Videocon group's insolvency story: the rejected consolidated resolution plan for the main group entities, and the ultimately separated, specialised resolution reached for VOVL's oil-and-gas assets.
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