The committee of creditors has deferred the meeting to consider the bids placed by Numetal Mauritius and ArcelorMittal for debt-laden Essar Steel to Wednesday as the resolution professional sought more time to look into the response given by both the companies to his queries.

Earlier, the creditors were to meet in Mumbai on Monday.

In an interview to BusinessLine published on Monday, Makram Abboud, Vice-Chairman International, VTB Capital, said: “We have a person (Lakshmi Mittal, promoter of ArcelorMittal) who is bidding knowing that he is not eligible even before his bid is prepared. That is what I call a spoiler. The law is clear in keeping away promoters of defaulting company. He is a promoter of a company (Uttam Galva Steel) which has defaulted. Selling the stake a day before does not absolve him from what he did before. I did not make the law. We are against this provision. But we have put in a consortium that meets the law whereas he has not. Any price he puts in now is irrelevant.”

Retorting to VTB statement, a source close to ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, said: “since when did it come to VTB to decide who is eligible and who is not eligible. Just like VTB, we have also taken our own legal opinion to say it’s eligible to bid”.

The Essar Group company, owned by the Ruia family, had defaulted on over ₹47,000 crore in debt, and was referred to the National Company Law Tribunal by the Reserve Bank of India.

The auction is at an important juncture, with both bids being evaluated by consultancy firm Grant Thornton and law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas. Questions are also being raised over the presence of Rewant Ruia, the son of Essar Steel promoter Ravi Ruia, as shareholder of Numetal.

However, the company has inserted a clause in its bid that he will be eased out of the consortium if need be.

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