Mumbai, Sep 14 (IANS) The Hotel Leela sale to Brookfield has come unstuck again. The new spanner has come in the shape of the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT) directing Hotel Leela Venture Ltd against declaring or acting upon the results of postal ballot resolutions seeking shareholders' approval for sale of its assets to Brookfield Asset Management Inc.

This comes after ITC Ltd. moved the tribunal against the market regulator's order rejecting its contention that the sale should not be allowed because of related-party transactions.

Hotel Leela had issued fresh postal ballot notices to its shareholders on August 13 and planned to declare results on September 18.

ITC has argued that voting by JM Financial Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd., which owns 26 per cent in the company, on the postal ballot resolutions to approve the Rs 3,950 crore deal was a related-party transaction.

The market regulator didn't agree even as it found conversion of debt to equity by JM Financial ARC a violation of the takeover code.

On Friday, SAT heard arguments from ITC, SEBI and Hotel Leela.