New Delhi: An appellate tribunal, the National Company Appellate Law Tribunal (NCLAT) was to hear an appeal in the controversial matter of Essel World founder Subhash Chandra’s repayment programme on September 1 (Tuesday). But on the eve of the hearing, in a surprising twist the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Monday has held that “no majority verdict” had in fact emerged approving Chandra’s repayment plan to creditors since the third NLCT member’s opinion was radically different from both members of the original bench.Judicial Member Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj and Technical Member Reena Sinha Puri of NCLT held diametrically different views on the controversial haircut so far assumed to have been given to former independent Rajya Sabha MP and tycoon, Subhash Chandra.There has been an uproar on Subhash Chandra being asked to pay just Rs 6.5 crore against admitted claims of Rs 22,006.57 crore. This works out to a 99.97% of a haircut, the creditors were expected to take. In sharp criticism, this was termed as a “mundan” (tonsure) by the opposition Congress party. Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in his press conference called it a case of “two systems” under the Modi government. The new Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code of the Modi government has come under heavy fire after this settlement was made public, with analysts and general commentators also comparing the treatment of big defaulters versus small borrowers.That Subhash Chandra was an independent MP supported by the BJP has also been in the news, and his controversial election in Haryana made the headlines again, about concerns of cronyism and the Modi government.Bar and Bench reports that the Bench of Judicial Member Ashok Kumar Bhardwaj and Technical Member Reena Sinha Puri of NCLT has held that no order could be passed on the plan at this stage. Therefore, the bench has referred the dispute afresh to the NCLT President.“All said and done, no majority view has emerged in the matter. In the wake, no order can be passed at this stage,” the tribunal has said.The third member of the NCLT, Nilesh Sharma had submitted a report on August 25, reports the portal, and the findings of Sharma differ from both of the other members making it impossible for a majority verdict to be arrived at. So instead of an appeal tomorrow, the NCLT will re-hear the matter.Largest ever NCLT BenchThe president of the NCLT, Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal, has constituted the largest ever bench for such a matter, with two judicial and two technical members in tow other than the president of the NCLT. The five members will hear the matter afresh on September 1.The special bench of the NCLT will hear the matter on September 1 at 11 am, said the company law tribunal.LIC Housing Finance, Canara Bank and Union Bank of India were to have joined the appeal. NDTV Profit reports that “LIC Housing, which will recover just Rs 38 lakh against an admitted claim of Rs 1,322 crore, was to have argued that the plan was accepted by a committee or creditors where 61.78% of the vote was controlled by entities directly or indirectly under the commercial influence of Dr. Subhash Chandra, and ought not to have been allowed to vote.”Dissenting banks, says the news report, include large financial entities such as LIC Housing Finance, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank, Canara Bank and RBL Bank.