The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday rejected a plea to stop the voting on a second round of auction for Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Capital.

Torrent Investments — one of the bidders — had moved the tribunal to halt the voting by the Committee of Creditors.

The tribunal comprising Justices P.N. Deshmukh and Shyam Babu Gautam declined to grant a stay by the Torrent group and kept the matter for hearing on January 12.

Torrent Investments had pleaded the NCLT should direct the administrator Nageswara Rao Y that lenders voting for the proposal relating to the second auction should not be held.

The voting started on Monday and will end on Tuesday.

Lenders are keen on a second round of auction to get better offers, which are above liquidation value.

They have reportedly proposed to hold a second round of auction with a minimum threshold price of Rs 9,500 crore on a net present value(NPV) basis, which would include Rs 8,000 crore as an upfront cash payment.

So far, all offers for Reliance Capital have been below the Rs 12,500-13,000 crore liquidation value. Apart from the TorrentInvestments, Hinduja group firm IndusInd InternationalHoldings (IIHL) is in the fray for Reliance Capital. The tribunal on Monday said CoC,represented by Kapil Sibal,and IIHL will be made parties to the matter. IIHL was represented by Harish Salve and Abhishek Manu Singhvi.

In the first round of the auction that ended on December 21, Torrent Investments gave the highest offer of Rs8,640 crore while the Hindujashad offered Rs 8,110 crore.

The auction did not see the participation of Piramal Enterprises-Cosmea FinancialHoldings combine. However, after the first round both the bidders had sweetened their offers and proposed to bring more upfront cash.