Calcutta: The petition filed by Numetal Ltd, one of the bidders for Essar Steel, before the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal on Tuesday, may keep the door ajar for Rewant Ruia to be back in the family's steel business in the future.

The petition sought a declaration from the bench that Numetal in its present avatar with four existing shareholders - Russia's VTB and TyazhPromExports (TPE), Indo International and Aurora Enterprises - may be declared eligible under the provisions of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC), 2016.

Judicial members Manorama Kumai and Harijar Prakash Chaturvedi did not stall the IBC process of debt-laden Essar Steel but noted that the NCLT bench's decision on Numetal's petition would be binding on the final outcome.

The matter has been listed for hearing on April 4.

However, the committee of creditors went ahead - the bench specifically mentioned that the IBC process should continue - and decided to call fresh bids for Essar Steel.

In the past, VTB, the lead shareholder of Numetal, had gone on record saying that the rest of the shareholders were ready to buy out Aurora, the Mauritius-based trust of Rewant Ruia, who is the younger son of Ravi Ruia, the founder and promoter of Essar Group along with his brother Shashi.

It is most likely that Numetal will participate in the re-bid keeping Aurora out. However, the re-bid of Numetal in the new avatar (without Rewant Ruia's Aurora) will depend on the final outcome of the eligibility petition the company filed on Tuesday.

"If it was held by the NCLT that Numetal in its earlier avatar is eligible, it will mean Aurora is also eligible under the provisions of the IBC, especially section 29A that deals with barring defaulting promoters. In that scenario, there will be no bar on Aurora to be back in Numetal again," an industry observer argued.

Without the petition before the NCLT, few options would have been left to bring Aurora back in the fray.

The structure of Auroa — an offshore trust having no board representation and say in the management — was specially designed to keep the Ruia family's toehold in the steel asset they had built over the years.

As of now it is not clear if only Numetal and ArcelorMittal will be allowed in the re-bid process or more players will be invited. The creditors are likely to decide on it on Thursday.