MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court converted National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL) suit for recovery of Rs 937.89 crore against NK Proteins Ltd and others into a commercial suit which would ensure stringent procedural formalities for speedy disposal of the case against the defaulter.

The High Court observed that the present case fell under the definition of 'Commercial Dispute' under the Commercial Courts Act, 2015, which requires urgent and quick resolution of the matter.

The court's ruling, on the application made by NSEL in September 2015, set the way for a priority hearing that the Commercial Courts Act demands.

In its order, the court came down very heavily on NSEL largest defaulter NK Proteins Group for opposing the conversion of a regular suit into a commercial suit.

Last week, an order by the Punjab and Haryana High paved the way for a criminal investigation against NSEL defaulter LOIL Group and an arrest of its owners Balbir Uppal and Janak Raj Singh for the recovery of Rs 720.31 crore.

Pointing out that the NSEL payment default was an engineered crisis, the company said it was solvable, though it was not solved by then FMC Chairman Ramesh Abhishek who conspired with K.P. Krishnan and P.Chidambaram.

"Even though the Economic Offences Wing, Mumbai, had submitted its report, Ramesh Abhishek deliberately did not take any action against the defaulters and brokers. He let every broker and defaulter escape scot-free," NSEL alleged.

Despite being unjustly targeted, it stated, NSEL had been continuously striving to recover the default amount from the 22 defaulting entities, which has resulted in obtaining the decree of Rs 3,364.71 crore and crystallisation of liability by the High Court Committee to the tune of over Rs 930 crore.