New Delhi, March 30 The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday dismissed an appeal by state-owned trading firm MMTC, challenging the one-time settlement (OTS) between National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), backed by 63 Moons, and traders.
The Mumbai bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) had on November 28, 2025, approved a Rs 1,950-crore settlement scheme between NSEL, along with its promoter 63 Moons, and traders who had outstanding dues amounting to nearly Rs 4,300 crore.
MMTC challenged the scheme before the NCLAT, arguing that it was "detrimental to the public interest" and contrary to public policy.
During the hearing, the NCLAT pointed out that the NCLT order of November 11, 2025, had already been approved by it and also affirmed by the Supreme Court in a civil appeal on March 9, 2026.
However, Additional Solicitor General Vikramjit Banerjee, representing MMTC, argued that even if the NCLT and this Tribunal had approved and the Supreme Court had affirmed the scheme, it could be recalled if it was proven that the scheme was vitiated by fraud.
In support of his argument, the ASG cited various paragraphs of the NCLT order and argued that the order incorrectly stated that the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) and the competent authority of the Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (MPID) did not object to the scheme.
He contended that these facts were incorrectly recorded, therefore the impugned order was vitiated by fraud.
However, the NCLAT stated that the OTS scheme was approved by more than 90 per cent of creditors, and from May to November 2025, MMTC did not challenge or vote against the resolutions passed.
"We need to state that the ASG had only pointed out to the paragraphs of the impugned order to show that fraud had been committed on the NCLT, but from our considered view, at best, it can be treated as an incorrect finding, but not fraud," the NCLAT said, adding, "we need to note that neither the ED nor the EOW nor the MPID appealed before this Court, and none of these authorities even challenged the scheme before the NCLT."
Moreover, the NCLT, in its order dated September 17, 2025, recorded that the counsel appearing on behalf of the EOW and the competent authority under the MPID Act had submitted that they had no objection to the proposed scheme.
Under the settlement scheme, the traders had agreed to withdraw all legal cases against NSEL and 63 Moons.
The NSEL crisis originated in July 2013, when the Department of Consumer Affairs had asked NSEL to close out all contracts, which had aggravated a payment crisis worth over Rs 5,400 crore.
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