JSW Steel has urged the Supreme Court to pronounce its final judgment in the Bhushan Power and Steel insolvency case as it has been waiting for over three years.

Last Friday, the apex court gave another two weeks to both the Enforcement Directorate and BPSL promoter Sanjay Singhal to make their final submissions. JSW Steel’s ₹19,700-crore bid to acquire BPSL is hanging fire as the ED had filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court to scrap the sale, finalised under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. The ED has argued that the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal has no jurisdiction to unfreeze and approve the sale of an asset attached by the investigating agency. Last October, the ED attached assets worth over ₹4,025 crore of BPSL in connection with its money laundering probe linked to an alleged bank loan fraud by the company’s former owners.

When the matter came up for hearing online in the apex court on Friday, ED counsel Tushar Mehta was granted four weeks to make a submission. Lawyers of other parties were not heard as they were on mute mode.

Later, when JSW Steel counsel Harish Salve was unmuted and heard in another case under the same judge, he clarified that no other lawyer got time for submission in the BPSL case. Following this, the judge agreed to hear the BPSL case again at the end of the day.

The committee of creditor’s senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi and Salve protested against more time being given and said the interest of both the banks and JSW Steel were getting hurt due to delay and the case being dragged.

The judge, then, halved the time for fresh submissions to two weeks, and adjourned the matter.

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