Govt moves NCLAT challenges NCLT order approving Ashdan Properties' Rs 900 cr plan for Rolta India

New Delhi, Mar 15 (PTI) The government has moved the appellate tribunal NCLAT, against the order passed by the NCLT, in which it approved a Rs 900 crore resolution plan by Ashdan Properties for the debt-ridden Rolta India.
     Challenging the approved resolution plan, the centre said only Rs 10 lakh of a token amount has been allocated for the government and the statutory authorities, whereas the Corporate Debtor (Rolta) owed a total sum of Rs 5,949.95 crore.
     Against admitted government/statutory claims of Rs 179.19 crore, this allocation constitutes an illusory recovery of only 0.06 per cent, said the petition filed by Union of India through Department of Telecommunications (DoT), according to the petition filed by Shashank Bajpai, Central Government standing Counsel.
     A claim of Rs 469.09 crore has been made by DoT against Rolta India, on account of the unpaid license fee for FY 2005-06 and 2006-07.
     The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on December 15, 2025, approved a Rs 900 crore resolution plan submitted by Ashdan Properties, which, according to the government, is a "grave miscarriage of justice" and "legally untenable".
     The Centre's appeal came for hearing on Thursday before a two-member bench comprising Chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan and Member (Technical) Barun Mitra, which directed to list it on March 19, 2026, for hearing.
     DoT, which is an operational creditor of Rolta India, granted an Internet Service Provider (ISP) license to Rolta India in November 1998 for establishing and operating internet services in the Mumbai service area for a period of 5 years.
     It executed a fresh ISP license agreement on April 30, 2002, in which Rolta was mandated to pay license fees based on Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR).
     Rolta defaulted on license fee payments, following which the DoT issued demand notices. However, Rolta approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal, which stayed the notices till its further order.
     The Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) was started against Rolta India by the NCLT in January 2023.
     In CIRP, DoT, as an operational creditor, lodged its Claim in Form B for an amount of Rs 469.09 crore towards the unpaid license fee for FY 2005-06 and 2006-07.
     However, the resolution professional, 'unilaterally' categorised the entire claim as “not acceptable but contingent”. The sole premise for this rejection was the interim stay order granted by the TDSAT, which had merely stayed the recovery of the demand notices submitted to DoT in its petition.
     Later, NCLT on December 15, 2025, approved the resolution plan submitted by Ashdan Properties, which resulted in "grave miscarriage of justice" as it was allocated merely Rs 10 Lakh to statutory authorities, resulting in a recovery of only 0.06 per cent of the admitted dues.
     In the resolution plan, the secured financial creditors received about Rs 808.55 crore, and unsecured financial creditors received Rs 64.20 crore, but government / statutory creditors as a class received a fraction of their admitted dues without any cogent examination of compliance with Section 30(2)(b) and the waterfall mechanism under Section 53 of IBC.
     Centre has requested the NCLAT to "set aside" the order passed by NCLT on December 15, 2025 and remit it back to the tribunal and Committee of Creditors with directions to revise the Resolution Plan.
     The petitioner further said that the approval of Ashdan's plan is in "direct contravention" of the law laid down by NCLAT in Bank of Maharashtra Vs Videocon Industries Ltd.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)