The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday directed a Bidvest Group company to go to the Delhi High Court to challenge an arbitration tribunal’s interim order that restrained it from transferring its stake in Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) to any third party until further order.
A division bench of Justices R Bhanumathi and AS Bopanna observed that under the law, petitioner Bid Services Division (Mauritius) has to go to the high court first before approaching the top court.
The court has also directed the Delhi High Court to hear the matter and pass its ruling expeditiously.
In March last year, Bidvest had entered into an agreement with Adani Group to sell its entire 13.5% stake in Mumbai International Airport (MIAL) for Rs 1,248 crore.
GVK Airport Holdings, which owns majority stake in MIAL, had then opted to exercise its right of first refusal and buy Bidvest’s stake, but it failed to complete the deal within the prescribed time limit.
Subsequently, Bidvest decided to sell its stake to Adani, while GVK Group approached the Delhi High Court and the SC to stop the deal.
In December, the SC had directed the arbitration panel to decide the case. The tribunal comprising retired Justices Madan B Lokur, KPS Radhakrishnan and AK Patnaik stayed the stake sale in an interim order issued on January 19.
Bidvest is now challenging it.
A GVK spokesperson claimed that the Hyderabad-based infrastructure company has “always been ready to buy” Bidvest’s stake in MIAL. “It is Bidvest which has not acted as per the shareholders agreement and is now restrained by the tribunal,” the person alleged in an email response to ET. “We are and have always been ready to conclude the transaction with Bidvest and will do so when they start acting as required by the shareholders agreement.”
Email queries to Bidvest remained unanswered as of press time on Tuesday.
“If Bidvest wants to appeal against it, then it must follow the due process of law in terms of Section 37 of the Arbitration Act 1996,” the GVK spokesperson said.
