Calcutta: Numetal may approach the appellate company law tribunal ahead of the crucial meet of the lenders of Essar Steel, apprehending rejection of its first-round bid. An appeal may be filed as early as Friday at the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal in Delhi, challenging any move by the committee of creditors (CoC) to call a fresh bid for Essar.

The meeting of the lenders on Tuesday, which followed the order of the Ahmedabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal, remained inconclusive.

The NCLT had observed that calling a second round bid for Essar was a sound move but legally invalid and sent the first bid back to the lenders for consideration.

The resolution professional (RP) had disqualified the revival plans submitted by ArcelorMittal and Numetal and called for a second bid on the grounds they own corporate accounts which are non performing assets on the books of banks for more than a year before the start of the insolvency process for Essar.

The Ahmedabad-bench had directed the RP and the CoC to reconsider their decisions in the light of the provisions of section 29A(c) read with 30(4) proviso of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code, 2016.

It held that the RP ought to have produced both the resolution plans before the CoC and consider the sections mentioned above for affording an opportunity to the resolution applicants by allowing them 30 days to pay their overdue loan before declaring them ineligible.

Sources said the lenders might not give the two bidders 30 days' time to pay the overdue amount and call for fresh bids open to all, including those who did not opt for an expression of interest in the first place. This will allow players such as JSW Steel, which is now keen to go solo, to participate in the bid. The company had already written letters to four major banks of the CoC, including the SBI, ICICI Bank and PNB, seeking a new bid.

"Numetal may go for an appeal at the NCLAT if lenders do not allow 30 days to cure themselves from the ineligibility. Moreover, the CoC was asked to decide if ArcelorMittal and Numetal were eligible. It appears that this is not being done," legal sources said.

There is a view that if lenders decline the bids on commercial terms, there will not be any legal hassle to it. Even though the offers were opened, the exact bid numbers are still unknown. According to one estimate, Mittals had bid higher, seeking 40 per cent haircut, while Numetal's bid offered 70 per cent haircut. Financial creditors owe Rs 49,000 crore to Essar Steel, promoted by the Ruia group.

A fresh round of bid would further delay the process to find a new owner for the Hazira, Gujarat-based plant having an annual output of 9 million tonnes.