Suspended chairman heads Bhushan Steel AGM

Founder Brij Bhushan Singhal addresses shareholders and gives future outlook, while resolution professional 'exchanges pleasantries'

Last week, Brij Bhushan Singhal, 81, chaired the annual general meeting (AGM) of the company he founded, Bhushan Steel. Not a cause for concern in the normal course but this event assumes significance because this is one of the 12 large accounts that have been referred to the insolvency process, by Reserve Bank order. The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) admitted the plea on July 26.

One of the key implications of admission of an insolvency plea is that the board of directors gets suspended and a committee of creditors (CoC) takes over. Further, day to day affairs come under a Resolution Professional (RP), answerable to the CoC. An e-mail seeking comments sent to the RP of Bhushan Steel remained unanswered.

However, statements made by the company to the stock exchanges state that apart from Singhal, Nitin Johari and P K Aggarwal, erstwhile wholetime directors of the company were present at the AGM on September 16 here. Present were 158 shareholders, including the directors who were members.