'Stakeholder issue' to NCLT action: How IL&FS saga unfolded over a weekend

There is an emergent need to immediately stop further financial defaults and also take measures to resolve defaulted dues to the claimants

Ever since the problems of the beleaguered infrastructure finance company IL&FS surfaced, the central government had maintained that the issue was for stakeholders, including Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and State Bank of India (SBI), to sort out. This was the stance till last Friday. 

However on Monday, the ministry of corporate affairs (MCA) took the company to the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to have the company’s board removed. A new board was constituted and was in place by the end of the working day, with Uday Kotak as non-executive chairman.

So what changed over the weekend?

By all indications, the government was