The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Monday gave JSW Steel Ltd immunity from all criminal investigations after its takeover of Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd, whose assets were sought to be attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) over alleged bungling by the former management.

A two-member NCLAT bench, headed by Justice S. J. Mukhopadhaya, also declared the attachment of assets of insolvent Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd (BPSL) by the ED as “illegal and without jurisdiction”.

Billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel had moved the appellate tribunal seeking to extinguish all present and future liabilities on account of criminal investigations against Bhushan Power & Steel, contending that an absence of any such protection would jeopardise the feasibility and viability of its resolution plan.

JSW Steel had made the highest bid of Rs 19,700 crore for the takeover of BPSL.

While the government had in December amended the insolvency law to ring-fence a corporate debtor, after its takeover in a bankruptcy auction, from criminal proceedings arising from offences committed by the previous management, the ED argued that immunity is not retrospective in nature and does not cover companies whose resolution plan was approved prior to the law.

“We hold that the assets of the corporate debtor (BSPL) of which JSW Steel Ltd is a successful resolution applicant is immune from attachment by ED,” NCLAT said.