The Mumbai bench of the national company law tribunal (NCLT) has granted a 90-day extension in the ongoing consolidated corporate insolvency resolution process (CIRP) of Lavasa Corporation Ltd, a planned hill city project in Maharashtra, beginning from 29 May 2025.
The latest extension reflects renewed hope for reviving the project through fresh bids. The CoC is currently assessing new resolution plans received in the restarted process.
In the previous round, besides Darwin Platform, initial interest had also come from groups like the Haldiram consortium and Aniruddha Deshpande. However, both failed to take the process forward.
Meanwhile, over 1,000 home-buyers, many of whom invested over a decade ago, remain in limbo. A group of 500-plus home-buyers had earlier appealed against Darwin’s plan citing alleged misrepresentation, including inflated net-worth claims and irregularities in corporate filings.
The NCLT had dismissed those concerns at the time, but the collapse of Darwin’s plan has rekindled questions over due diligence and plan vetting.In its order dated 2 June 2025, the NCLT bench comprising judicial member Ashish Kalia and technical member Sanjiv Dutt allowed the extension, stating that the CIRP was at an advanced stage and required more time for resolution plan deliberations.
“Since the CIRP is at an advanced stage and resolution plans have already been submitted by prospective resolution applicants (PRAs), which are required to be considered by the Committee of Creditors (CoC), the extension is being sought in the interest of value maximisation and to ensure that the objectives of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 (IBC) are duly met,” the bench noted.
The extension follows a request from the resolution professional (RP), who informed the tribunal that the remaining time under the existing deadline—ending 29th May—was insufficient for the CoC to complete negotiations and assess the feasibility of plans submitted by PRAs.
The once-ambitious Lavasa city project, spread across 12,500 acres in the Western Ghats and modelled on Italy’s Portofino, is undergoing a second round of insolvency proceedings after the earlier resolution failed. Originally promoted by Ajit Gulabchand’s Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), Lavasa Corporation has admitted liabilities of over Rs6,642 crore.
In 2021, the CoC approved a Rs1,814 crore resolution plan submitted by Darwin Platform Infrastructure Ltd (DPIL), led by Ajay Harinath Singh. However, the successful bidder failed to implement the plan. Darwin was expected to inject working capital, complete the township, repay lenders over eight years, and deliver completed homes to about 837 homebuyers. The plan included a down payment of Rs92.5 crore and further instalments as per schedule, but the commitments were not met.
After repeated delays and non-compliance, the NCLT in September 2024 removed DPIL from the process, dissolved the monitoring committee, and reinstated CIRP with Shailesh Verma as the RP.
Union Bank of India, along with other financial creditors, subsequently sought the invocation of Darwin’s Rs25 crore performance bank guarantee (PBG) which was approved by over 73% of lenders. The PBG was eventually encashed on 8 April 2024.
“This clearly demonstrates that the Darwin Platform was never ready to implement the plan and was only making excuses to somehow save the PBG amount,” the tribunal had noted in an earlier order, calling out the group for stalling tactics.
The tribunal’s latest order acknowledges the potential for value maximization if thorough deliberations are given space. However, stakeholders and observers remain wary given the history of delays, failed implementation, and unmet promises in the Lavasa saga.
