The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday reserved its order over admission of contempt petition filed against Reliance Group Chairman Anil Ambani and its other officials by minority shareholders alleging non-payment of dues by Reliance Infratel-the tower arm of Reliance CommunicationsNSE 3.45 % (RCom).
A two member bench in NCLAT headed by Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya, said it will take a final decision on the admission of contempt petition against Ambani for non-payment of dues while the company in concern is undergoing insolvency along with RCom and another unit -Reliance Telecom.
If the contempt petition gets accepted, it will be the second one against Anil Ambani -the first one being in a case filed by Swedish telecom heat maker Ericsson against RCom chairman for not paying dues worth Rs 550 crore plus interest. That matter was resolved when elder brother Mukesh Ambani paid the due amount to Ericsson.
In this case, the legal battle between the minority shareholders and RCom’s unit has been going on for more than a year. The minority shareholders had filed a contempt petition against Ambani for failing to clear dues worth Rs 232 crore, despite an earlier tribunal order of June last year, which stated that the dues had to be cleared within the next six months.
The resolution professional, which is overlooking sale of assets told the appellate tribunal that RCom and its units are under a moratorium under the IBC and therefore can pay dues.
The shareholders were against RCom’s deal to sell its assets right from the start. HSBC Daisy Investments and some other minority shareholders – together holding just over 4% in the Reliance Infratel-tower company – had opposed sale of assets on grounds that their consent was not sought for the asset sale and, if allowed, would be an “oppression of a minority shareholder under section 397 and 398” as Reliance Infratel would become defunct.
