Centre raises ‘serious objections’ to Vedanta’s demerger, NCLT defers hearing

The central government has raised serious objections to Vedanta’s demerger and has cited ‘concealment and non-disclosure’ of details.

The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has pushed back the hearing on the matter just days after SEBI issued an administrative warning to the company over modifying the Scheme of Arrangement without consent from the regulator.

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The NCLT deferred the matter to September 17 for further hearing.

As per the reports, the government said it will not be able to recover dues if the demerger is followed through and that there has been ‘concealment’ and non-disclosure of key details. The mining major had ‘inflated revenue’ and ‘concealed liabilities,’ the Centre informed the NCLT.

Sebi confirmed that alterations were made post-clearance, calling the move a serious breach of its master circular.

The regulator also said it had issued an administrative warning to the company and underlined that such modifications should have been placed before Vedanta’s board for formal approval.

Notably, Vedanta on August 14 had also confirmed that it received an administrative warning from Sebi over modification to the Scheme of Arrangement without prior written consent of Sebi.

The company has been advised by the regulator to exercise caution in the future and share the board’s comments on the administrative warning, along with corrective actions that will be undertaken.