In a huge relief to Norway’s Telenor, a local court in Gurgaon has revoked a ban on the company from participating in the upcoming spectrum auction. The Gurgaon district court had earlier restrained Telenor from participating in the auction with any firm other than Uninor. The district court had given this stay order in August on a petition of Unitech.
Telenor had then moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court which instructed the Gurgaon district court to give a full and final order before September 20. Telenor holds 67.25 per cent stake in Uninor and realty firm Unitech holds the remaining 32.75 per cent. The two partners have been at loggerheads over valuations and funding plans. Telenor now wants to dump Unitech and form a new joint venture with another Indian player in order to bid for the auction scheduled in November. The foreign player wants to transfer Uninor’s assets into the new company, but Unitech has objected to it.
High Court proceedings
In a related development, the Delhi High Court on Monday asked Unitech to respond to Telenor’s plea seeking Rs 6,400 crore as indemnity from it for the losses to be caused to it after the 2G spectrum licences were cancelled. Telenor, which also sought a direction to freeze Unitech’s assets, has alleged Unitech misrepresented facts before formation of Uninor. The Norwegian firm, in its petition, alleged that most of Unitech’s shares in Uninor have already been attached by the Income-Tax Department, and it is concerned that the Indian partner may not be able to settle its claim if awarded in the arbitral proceedings being held at Singapore.
But troubles for the Norwegian company are not yet over, as another case on auctioning Uninor’s assets continues. The Delhi High Court had allowed Uninor to invite bids for selling its business and assets. However, it had asked the Company Law Board to decide the matter on merit, adding that nothing will be confirmed till then. The Company Law Board then ruled that Uninor cannot go ahead with its proposed auction of sales and assets.