The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought responses to an appeal by Videocon Group founder Venugopal Dhoot challenging a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) ruling that excluded the overseas oil and gas assets of Videocon Oil Venture Limited (VOVL) and its foreign subsidiaries from the insolvency process of Videocon Industries Limited.

A Bench of Justice P S Narasimha and Justice Alok Aradhe issued notice on Dhoot’s appeal against the NCLAT’s May 14, 2026, judgment and directed that it be heard along with a connected matter already pending before the apex court.

Senior advocate K K Venugopal, appearing for Dhoot, argued that the dispute was confined to whether foreign oil and gas assets valued at about $7.5 million should form part of Videocon Industries’ insolvency estate. He submitted that while a related appeal was already before the court, the present case specifically concerned the treatment of these overseas assets in the insolvency process.

Representing State Bank of India (SBI), Solicitor General Tushar Mehta opposed the appeal, contending that Dhoot had adopted contradictory positions during the insolvency proceedings. He argued that Dhoot had initially sought to keep the overseas assets separate from Videocon Industries but later changed his stand by seeking their inclusion in the insolvency process.

After hearing both sides, the Bench observed that the issues substantially overlapped with those arising in the pending appeal and decided to tag the matter with the connected case.

The dispute centres on whether the foreign oil and gas assets owned by VOVL and its overseas subsidiaries should be treated as assets of Videocon Industries for the purposes of the insolvency proceedings.

In February 2020, the Mumbai Bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) accepted Dhoot’s plea and directed that the overseas assets be included in Videocon Industries’ information memorandum as part of the insolvency process. The order was challenged by SBI and other stakeholders.

The NCLAT later overturned that decision, holding that the issue had already been settled through its 2022 ruling, which rejected Dhoot’s earlier challenge. It concluded that the foreign assets could not be brought within Videocon Industries’ insolvency process, upheld the commercial wisdom of the committee of creditors, and noted that Dhoot had previously maintained that the overseas assets were distinct from Videocon Industries before subsequently arguing for their inclusion.