Calcutta: When senior counsel Harish Salve was making a strong pitch for ArcelorMittal's eligibility as a bidder for Essar Steel on Thursday, someone present at the visitors' gallery of the Supreme Court was listening with rapt attention.

Aditya Mittal, president and chief financial officer of ArcelorMittal, the world's largest producer of the steel, was closely following the arguments of Salve, one of India's best-known legal brain.

It is not usual for the top management, leave alone the promoters of company, to be present at court room. Mittal, whose father Lakshmi Niwas is the chairman and CEO and also owns 38 per cent of ArcelorMittal, is based in London and he flew down to Delhi to attend the hearing.

"This just goes to reinforce that the Mittals are very serious about Essar Steel and the Indian market. ArcelorMittal has been looking to enter India for long but failed to make a breakthrough so far. Essar probably provides the best chance in a long time to enter this growing market with a significant presence," a corporate observer noted.

The proceedings

Salve argued why ArcelorMittal should not be held ineligible after selling its shares in Uttam Galva Steels Ltd and KSS Petron, the two non-performing assets that made the company ineligible in the eyes of the NCLAT.

Salve said there was a co-promotion agreement between ArcelorMittal and the promoters of Uttam Galva with the former divesting its 29 per cent share and incurring losses.

"I invested in a listed Indian company. There was not a single director (of ArcelorMittal) on the board of Uttam Galva... I purchased and sold the shares and still the stigma remains attached to me," PTI quoted Salve as saying.

The NCLAT had asked ArcelorMittal to clear the "stigma" of a defaulter by clearing the dues of Uttam Galva Steel and KSS Petron in which it had shares.

ArcelorMittal wanted to exit Uttam Galva, but because of the agreement, it could not have sold the shares in the open market and had to talk to the promoters of the Indian firm, he added.

Salve also argued before justices Rohinton F. Nariman and Indu Malhotra that Numetal was only a shell company for the Ruia family, the promoter of insolvent Essar Steel.