The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) has approved a repayment proposal in the personal insolvency proceedings of Zee Group founder Subhash Chandra.

Under the plan, creditors will receive Rs 6.2 crore against admitted claims of around Rs 22,006.57 crore, while Rs 25 lakh has been set aside for insolvency resolution process costs. According to the NCLT order, the plan therefore represents a nearly 99.97 percent haircut for creditors.

NCLT Member Nilesh Sharma, who was appointed as the third member after the original two-member bench gave a split verdict, approved the plan under Section 114 of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC).

Several lenders, led by LIC Housing Finance, had opposed the plan, arguing that the proposed recovery was too low. LIC Housing Finance had an admitted claim of around Rs 1,322.39 crore, while the proposed repayment to it was about Rs 38.09 lakh.

However, the tribunal noted that the repayment plan had received approval from creditors holding 80.81 percent of the voting share.

It also held that the NCLT could not replace the commercial decision of creditors with its own assessment of whether the repayment amount was sufficient.The approved plan will be binding on all creditors, including those who opposed it, under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code.