The Company Law Board (CLB) has set June 2 as the next hearing date in the Financial Technologies’ (FTIL) board removal case. This emerged at the CLB hearing on Monday in New Delhi.
At the CLB hearing, FTIL counsel Abhishek Singhvi submitted that restricting transactions around movable assets had constrained FTIL from transacting on its investments, leading to losses on its portfolio.
Singhvi also mentioned how the company had — in the wake of Supreme Court order -- lost the ability to divest its shareholding in subordinate companies in compliance with the Reserve Bank of India and the Securities and Exchange Board of India directions, as well as the orders of international regulators.
The CLB Bench has set the next hearing date for June 2 as the Government counsel sought more time in the case.
The Supreme Court had on April 18 this year reversed a Madras High Court order that had stayed the CLB’s ad-interim order of June 30, 2015. In that ad-interim order, CLB had barred FTIL from undertaking any asset sale – both movable and immovable assets — until a final order on the matter is passed. .
The Madras High Court had allowed FTIL to use its movable assets. However, that has been reversed by the apex court.
The apex court had also asked CLB to expedite the matter between FTIL and Union of India.
FTIL has been contending that the MCA petition to supersede the entire new board of the company was clearly an attempt to ensure that there was no opposition whatsoever from the new board to the forced merger of NSEL with its parent FTIL.
The Government is targeting to render FTIL’s challenge to the forced amalgamation of NSEL with FTIL under section 396 nugatory by removing the entire board, which assumed responsibility in November 2014, according to FTIL.
Meanwhile, the Bombay High Court is expected to hear the NSEL-FTIL merger case on June 15 this year.. The new hearing date was set for June 15 after the Government sought more time to response to the challenge of FTIL to the final merger order issued by the Corporate Affairs Ministry.