The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal today refused to stay a bankruptcy court order approving steel giant ArcelorMittal’s Rs 42,000-crore takeover bid for Essar Steel and sought a fresh plan for the distribution of bid amount between financial and operational creditors of the debt-laden firm.

Essar Steel directors had challenged Ahmedabad-Bench of National Company Law Tribunal’s nod to global steel giant ArcelorMittal SA’s bid for the debt-laden company on the plea that their offer of Rs 54,389-crore was superior as it clears 100% outstanding of both financial and operational creditors.

Standard Chartered, too, moved the NCLAT against the plan as its counsel contended that the bank was being given only 1.7% of its total dues from Essar Steel while other financial creditors, forming part of the CoC, were getting over 85% of their dues.

Making a suggestion, the NCLAT said all operational creditors below Rs 1 crore should get 100% of the dues and so should the employees of Essar Steel. Only 90% of Rs 42,000 crore should be allowed for financial creditors.

ArcelorMittal’s Resolution Proposal involves financial creditors getting Rs 41,987 crore out of their total dues of Rs 49,395 crore. Operational creditors, under the plan, would get just Rs 214 crore against the outstanding of Rs 4,976 crore.