New Delhi, March 15 (IANS): The National Company Law Appelate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Friday refused to stay the National Company Law Tribunal's (NCLT) Ahmedabad bench order approving the ArcelorMittal's Rs 42,000 crore bid for the insolvent steel company.

NCLAT will now hear the case on March 18.

The tribunal also advised the committee of creditors (CoC) and resolution professional (RP) to consider a judicious distribution of Rs 42,000 crore among financial creditors and other stakeholders.

Essar Steel MD Prashant Ruia and Essar Group executives as well as the Standard Chartered Bank filed a fresh petition before the NCLAT on Monday, seeking to set aside the ArcelorMittal's winning bid approved by the National Company Law Tribunal's Ahmedabad bench.

A two-member bench headed by Justice S.J. Mukhopadhaya suggested that all operational creditors below Rs 1 crore should get 100 per cent of the dues and so should the employees of Essar Steel.

Only 90 per cent of Rs 42,000 crore should be allowed for financial creditors, it said.

The Delhi-based tribunal asked the CoC to come up with a distribution plan by Monday.

In its order last week, the NCLT also asked ArcelorMittal to offer 15 per cent of the upfront cash settlement of Rs 42,000 crore, or Rs 6,300 crore, to operational creditors.

The original resolution plan only offered Rs 196 crore to operational creditors against claims of Rs 4,976 crore. The NCLT order means financial creditors - the banks - will have to take a deeper haircut on the asset.

On Thursday, NCLAT had asked the the promoters of Essar Steel to clear all the group's dues as per the Supreme Court's order and then come back to it.

The NCLT bench on March 8 approved ArcelorMittal's resolution plan, which was voted as the winning bid in October 2018 by the CoC and which included an upfront payment of Rs 42,000 crore and a post-deal infusion of Rs 8,000 crore in Essar Steel.