Prabhat Dairy Limited & Ors. vs Sebi
- CitationAppeal No. 413 of 2020
Ratio decidendi
The rule this decision rests on
The impugned ex-parte ad-interim direction requiring deposit of the full Rs. 1292.46 crore in an escrow account cannot be sustained where it was passed without application of mind, rests on a floor price under the Delisting Regulations rather than the discovered price, takes no account of the amount the acquirer has offered to pay, and disregards the 50% share of the distributable sale proceeds that belongs to the promoters and promoter group. The price at which shares are to be acquired on delisting is determined by the discovered price under the reverse book building mechanism prescribed in the Delisting Regulations, and not by the floor price; a regulator's conclusion that funds are inadequate when measured against the floor price is erroneous and cannot found a deposit direction. The determination of the price of the shares of a company subject to delisting is a matter for the shareholders and the reverse book building process, and the regulator has no power to fix or second-guess it in that regard. A regulatory direction to deposit or freeze funds requires a specific finding of diversion or other misuse of funds; where the regulator knows that substantial sums are held in fixed deposits and makes no such finding, a direction to deposit further sums is neither just nor proper. The regulator cannot withhold processing of a delisting application pending a forensic audit that is confined to the sale transaction and the distribution of sale proceeds, since those matters do not bear on the delisting application.
Written by Miss Lucy from the judgment below, not taken from a headnote.
Judgment
As delivered
3. Vivek Sarangdhar Nirmal Nirmalnagar, At Post Ranjankhol, Taluka - Rahata, Shrirampur District, Ahmednagar - 413 720. ...Appellants
Versus 2
Securities and Exchange Board of India, SEBI Bhavan, Plot No. C-4A, G-Block, Bandra-Kurla Complex, Bandra (East), Mumbai - 400 051. ...Respondent
Mr. Janak Dwarkadas, Senior Advocate with Mr. Feroze Patel, Mrs. Manik Joshi, Mr. Mantul Bajpai and Mr. Gaurav Gangal, Advocates i/b M/s. Crawford Bayley & Co. for Appellants.
Mr. Rafique Dada, Senior Advocate with Mr. Anubhav Ghosh and Mr. Ravishekhar Pandey, Advocates i/b The Law Point for the Respondent.
Mr. P.N. Modi, Senior Advocate with Ms. Kalpana Desai, Mr. Melvyn Fernandes, Mr. Shrinivas Sankaran and Mr. Mihir Gupte, Advocates i/b Vaish Associates for Interveners in Misc. Application No. 437 of 2020.
CORAM: Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer Dr. C.K.G. Nair, Member Justice M.T. Joshi, Judicial Member
Per: Justice Tarun Agarwala, Presiding Officer
1. The present appeal has been filed against an ex-parte ad-
interim order dated October 20, 2020 passed by the Whole Time
Member ('WTM' for short) of Securities and Exchange Board
of India ('SEBI' for short) under Section 11 and 11B of the
Securities and Exchange Board of India Act, 1992.
2. The facts leading to the filing of the present appeal is, that
on January 21, 2019 the Board of Directors of the appellant no. 3
1 Company approved the sale of its shareholding in its
subsidiary called Sunfresh Agro Industries Private Limited
('Sunfresh' for short) to Tirumala Milk Products Private
Limited ('Tirumala' for short) on terms and conditions
contained in the share purchase agreement and business transfer
agreement. This fact was disclosed by the Company to the
National Stock Exchange of India Limited ('NSE' for short) and
BSE Limited ('BSE' for short) under Regulation 30 of the
LODR Regulations. The Company also informed the stock
exchange on the same date that a substantial portion of the sale
consideration would be distributed to the shareholders after
meeting the tax liability, indemnity, transaction cost, payments
to advisors, etc.
3. The resolution of the board of directors was subsequently
approved by the 92% of the shareholders of the company
present and voting in its extraordinary general meeting held on
March 26, 2019, based on which, the sale was concluded on
April 10, 2019 for total consideration of Rs. 1880.85 crore, the
breakup of which is Rs. 1700 crore towards sale consideration
and Rs. 180.85 towards debit repayment. This fact was also
disclosed to the stock exchange on April 11, 2019. 4
4. Various options for distribution of the sale proceeds to the
shareholders were alleged to be evaluated by the appellant no. 1
Company such as dividend and buy-back of equity shares. It is
alleged that these options were not tax efficient and
consequently the promoter and the promoter group, namely,
appellant nos. 2 and 3 showed their intention to buy the 49%
shares of the minority shareholders in order to provide an exit
opportunity to the minority shareholders of appellant no. 1
Company. It may be stated here that the promoter and promoter
group of the appellant no. 1 Company hold 51% of the total
shareholding of the Company and 49% of the shares are held by
the public shareholders.
5. This intention of the promoters to buyout the shares of the
minority shareholders was also indicated to the stock exchange
on September 4, 2019 and subsequently the board of directors
passed a resolution on September 10, 2019 indicating that the
Company would be delisted and that 49% of the shares of the
public would be bought by the promoters, namely, appellant
nos. 2 and 3. The floor price of Rs. 63.77 paise was also
determined in accordance with Regulation 15(2) of the SEBI
(Delisting of Equity Shares) Regulations, 2009 ('Delisting
Regulations' for short).
5
6. Subsequently, a resolution of the board of directors was
approved by 99.13% of the shareholders on October 16, 2019.
In the explanatory statement published and distributed to the
shareholders under Section 102 of the Companies Act, 2013 it
was made known to the shareholders that the dairy business of
the Company had been sold off to Tirumala and that the
Company was no longer operating its core business, namely, the
dairy business. It was also indicated that the acquirers
understood and recognized that a majority of the public
shareholders would have invested in a Company with the
intention of investing in a Company engaged in a dairy business
and therefore keeping that in mind the acquirers have provided
an exit opportunity to the shareholders through this delisting
process.
7. Based on the approval granted by the majority
shareholders of the Company for delisting, a formal application
dated December 23, 2019 was filed for approval of the delisting
of the Company under Regulation 8(1) of the Delisting
Regulations.
8. In the meanwhile, based on certain news items, the
respondent asked for certain information from the Company 6
regarding the sale consideration of its subsidiary and the
distribution of the sale consideration to its shareholders. It is
submitted that the appellants provided all the requisite
information but SEBI not being satisfied directed the stock
exchanges to independently conduct a critical analysis of the
disclosures made by the appellant no. 1 Company. On this basis,
BSE submitted a report on December 12, 2019 indicating that
no serious effort was being made by the appellant no. 1
Company to distribute the proceeds to its shareholders and that
the delisting offer of Rs. 310.81 crore calculated on the basis of
floor price of Rs. 63.77 per share is far lower than Rs. 872 crore
parked by the appellant no. 1 Company in the escrow account.
NSE in its report dated January 3, 2020 advised SEBI to
conduct a forensic audit of the Company and further stated that
the delisting application should be considered after the audit
report. The appellant contended that as and when the
information was sought by the stock exchange necessary
information was provided. However, SEBI prima-facie came to
a conclusion that there was lack of proper trail utilization of
funds received from the transaction and non distribution of the
consideration to the shareholders appears to be suspicious and
that the floor price offered under the Delisting Regulations does 7
not commensurate with the funds available with the Company.
Accordingly, SEBI by an order dated July 17, 2020 appointed
Grant Thornton Bharat LLP (erstwhile Grant Thornton India
LLP) as the forensic auditor for financial years ending March
31, 2019 and March 31, 2020. The appellants were accordingly
directed to cooperate with the forensic auditor and supply the
necessary information.
9. It transpires that the forensic auditor requested the
appellant company to supply various documents some of which
were supplied but majority of the documents were not supplied.
It was contended that the business transfer agreement, share
purchase agreement and other documents relating to the sale
consideration were not readily available and the same was
sought from the purchaser. Further, on account of Covid
pandemic, the appellant was unable to provide the requisite
documents to the forensic auditor. It was further contended that
the appellant had not refused to cooperate with the forensic
auditor but only sought time to locate and procure the
documents so that the same could be provided to the forensic
auditor.
8
10. It seems that on the basis of some report submitted by the
forensic auditor for not supplying the requisite documents and
on the basis of certain complaints given by the investors had led
to the passing of the impugned ex-parte ad-interim order on
October 20, 2020 wherein the following directions were issued,
viz.-
"45. In view of the foregoing, in order to protect the interest of the investors and the integrity of the securities market, I, in exercise of the powers conferred upon me in terms of Section 19 read with Sections 11(1), 11(4) and 11B of the SEBI Act, hereby issue the following directions-
(i) Noticee no. 1 i.e. PDL is directed to deposit within seven working days from the date of receipt of this Order, the amount of Rs. 1292.46 Crore to an interest bearing Special Escrow Account ["Escrow Account in Compliance with SEBI Order dated October 20, 2020 -
A/c (in the name of the Company)"] in a Nationalized Bank. The Audit Committee of PDL shall directly monitor the process of creation of this Special Escrow Account and its funding as directed by this Order and furnish a Compliance Report to SEBI by October 30, 2020.
(ii) The subsequent operations in the above mentioned Special Escrow Account shall be monitored by JM Financial as its manager till the completion of the forensic audit. Further, JM Financial shall allow debits from the Special Escrow Account only for the purposes of administrative expenses of PDL. The 9
funds in the Special Escrow Account shall not be used by PDL for any other lines of business (including for deployment towards its residual business i.e. animal nutrition and cattle feed business), as committed in its disclosure to the stock exchanges on March 25, 2019.
(iii) PDL shall furnish a weekly statement of debits / credits/balance in the above mentioned Special Escrow Account commencing from October 30, 2020, to JM Financial till the completion of the forensic audit.
(iv) In case of failure to comply with the above directions, Noticee nos. 2 and 3 i.e. Sarangdhar Ramchandra Nirmal and Vivek Sarangdhar Nirmal, shall be restrained from disposing, selling or alienating, in any other manner, their assets or diver funds, except for the purpose of compliance with the direction at paragraph 45(i).
(v) Noticee nos. 1, 2 and 3 are directed to cooperate with the forensic auditor appointed as per the SEBI letter dated July 17, 2020 and shall furnish all information / documents to the forensic auditor / SEBI within seven working days. The Audit Committee of PDL is directed to ensure that all date / information may be provided to the forensic auditor / SEBI within seven working days."
11. The appellant being aggrieved by the aforesaid ex-parte
ad-interim directions has filed the present appeal which has
been taken up today on an urgent application being made. Since 10
direction no. 1 was not complied within the stipulated period as
directed in the impugned order the respondent has attached the
demat accounts and bank accounts of respondent nos. 2 and 3 in
furtherance of direction no. 4 of the impugned order, for which
purpose an additional affidavit was filed during the course of
hearing of this appeal.
12. We have heard Shri Janak Dwarkadas, the learned senior
counsel for appellants and Shri Rafique Dada, the learned senior
counsel for the respondent including Shri P.N. Modi, the learned
senior counsel appearing for interveners through video
conference.
13. An intervention application has been filed on behalf of
TVS Capital Funds Private Limited and Anr. seeking to
intervene in the present proceedings and prayed that they should
be made a respondent in the appeal or should be heard as an
intervener as they are necessary parties. On this application we
have also heard Mr. P.N. Modi, the learned senior counsel.
14. The contention of the intervener is, that the impugned
order has been passed on the basis of complaint made by them.
It was also submitted that they are holding 30.7% of the shares
of the Company and that they are vitally interested in 11
distribution of the sale consideration which has not been given
to the shareholders till date. It was, thus, urged that the
intervener should be impleaded as a necessary party.
15. On this issue, after hearing Mr. P.N. Modi, the learned
senior counsel at some length we are of the opinion that the
present dispute is between the directions issued by SEBI and
the appellants. The lis is between the appellants and the
respondent and therefore the applicant intervener is not a
necessary party nor is required to be impleaded as a respondent
in the appeal. Further, we are of the opinion that the interest of
the intervener is protected as, on their own showing, the
impugned order has been passed pursuant to the complaint filed
by them. However, even though the applicant intervener cannot
be impleaded as a respondent, nonetheless, we allow the
intervener to be heard. Accordingly, the intervention application
is allowed with the limited purpose that the intervener would be
heard. In this regard we have heard Shri P.N. Modi, the learned
senior counsel at some length.
16. The contention of Shri Janak Dwarkadas, the learned
senior counsel for appellants is, that the impugned order has
been passed without any application of mind. The direction to 12
deposit 1292.46 crore in a special escrow account and further
restraining the appellant no.1 Company from making any
expenditure in its subsidiary business is certainly not in the
interest of Company or its shareholders. It was urged that the
order is wholly arbitrary and is aimed to kill a running Company
which has 150 employees and 10,000 farmers.
17. The learned senior counsel urged that necessary
information was being supplied from time to time and as and
when respondent asked for information. It was urged that the
finding in the impugned order that the appellants gave hazy
reply with regard to the sale consideration is patently erroneous.
It was submitted that after meeting the tax liability, indemnity,
transaction cost and debt outstanding, the appellant had parked a
sum of Rs. 854.41 crore in a fixed deposit which fact was made
known to the stock exchanges and which is admitted by BSE in
its report. It was submitted that the account number was
mentioned in the report of BSE but the report observed that the
name of the bank has not been mentioned and therefore the
transaction appears to be suspicious. The contention that
evasive replies were supplied was totally erroneous and that full
particulars were provided. It was also submitted that on October
20, 2020 full particulars of an amount of Rs. 701.27 crore kept 13
in the fixed deposits were duly supplied to the respondent which
fact has not been considered while passing the impugned order.
It was, thus, contended that the finding that the whereabouts of
the sale consideration was not known or that there was a
possibility for diversion of funds is patently erroneous and is
based on surmises and conjectures.
18. The contention that requisite documents were not being
supplied to the forensic auditor is again incorrect. It was urged
that the appellants are always willing to cooperate with the
forensic auditor and supply the necessary documents. It was
submitted that necessary information could not be supplied on
account of non-availability of the requisite documents and on
account of restrictions because of the pandemic. Further, the
statutory audit was going on which was required to be
completed within the deadline and therefore this also led to the
delay in the supply of the requisite documents to the forensic
auditor. It was also submitted that the report of BSE which led
to the passing of the impugned order for deposit of 1292.46
crore was based on non application of mind and non
consideration of a vital fact. It was contended that SEBI is only
interested in protecting the interest of the minority shareholders
holding 49% of the shares of the Company. On the other hand, 14
the promoters and the promoter group of the Company holds
51% of the shares of the Company. It was, thus, contended that
according to the Company Rs. 854.41 crore was required to be
distributed to the shareholders towards share consideration. 50%
of the amount would go to the promoters which comprises of
51% and 49% would go to the minority shareholders. It was,
thus, submitted that 50% of Rs. 854 crore would come to Rs.
427 crore for which SEBI at best could have passed an order to
protect their interest but under no circumstances the order
directing the appellant to deposit Rs. 1292.46 crore could be
passed.
19. It was also contended that the respondent are only
considering the floor price of Rs. 63.77 paise which is not the
final price and was only determined in accordance with
Regulation 15(2) of the Delisting Regulations. It was submitted
that the discovered price in the delisting will be based on the
price at which the bids are placed by the public shareholders as
part of the reverse book building mechanism specified in the
Delisting Regulations. It was submitted that the acquirers in
their discretion may accept the discovered price or offer a higher
price than the discovered price or make a counter offer to the
public shareholders of the appellant no. 1 Company in 15
accordance with the Delisting Regulations. It was urged that as
part of the reverse book building mechanism, public
shareholders were free to submit bids for tendering the equity
shareholders held by them at any price offer over and above the
floor price which may deemed to be the fair exit price. After the
determination of the discovered price, the acquirer at their
discretion may accept the discovered price or offer a higher
price or make a counter offer through appellant no. 1 Company
in accordance with the Delisting Regulations. On this basis, it
was urged by the learned senior counsel that BSE in its report
committed an error in holding that the delisting offer was only
310.81 crore. Further, the respondent have not considered the
offer of the acquirers which an unconditional offer of Rs. 100
per share and thus total amount which would be distributed to
the minority shareholders would work out to approximately
Rs. 490 crore.
20. It was, thus, urged that if the distribution of the sale
consideration is given to the minority shareholders it would be
approximately Rs. 427 crore and the price offered under the
Delisting Regulations would come to Rs. 492 crore by the
acquirers. On this basis, it was urged that the direction of the 16
WTM directing the appellants to deposit Rs. 1292 crore was
based on non application of mind and was liable to be set aside.
21. It was also urged that the delisting application ought to
have been decided at the earliest as it was in the interest of the
shareholders which had approved the proposal and that SEBI
had nothing to do with the determination of the price of the
shares which is fixed and determined on the basis of reverse
book building mechanism specified in the Delisting
Regulations. It was, thus, contended that dehors the forensic
audit, the delisting application should be considered and decided
by the respondent without waiting for the forensic audit report.
22. In the light of the aforesaid, it was urged that the
impugned order is wholly arbitrary and if it is allowed to
continue it will kill the Company and close the business of the
Company and therefore prayed that the impugned order should
be set aside.
23. Shri Rafique Dada, the learned senior counsel for the
respondent contended that the intention of the respondent in
passing the impugned order was solely to protect the interest of
the shareholders of the Company. It was contended that
Company itself had indicated that substantial portion of the 17
proceeds of the sale consideration would be distributed to the
shareholders which till date has not been done. Further, the
appellant was required to declare the financial audited results
for the fourth quarter before July 31, 2020 which they have
failed to do so and therefore an irresistible inference was drawn
that there is something suspicious going on in the affairs of the
Company and therefore in order to protect the interest of the
investors, it was necessary to pass urgent orders.
24. Shri. Rafique Dada, the learned senior counsel for the
respondent further contended that the distribution of the sale
consideration to the shareholders should not be mixed with the
consideration of payment to be made under the delisting
application. It was urged that the sale consideration is required
to be paid by the appellant no. 1 Company and if the delisting
application if allowed, then it would be the acquirer who would
be required to pay to the shareholders. It was also contended
that complete details of utilization towards tax liability,
indemnity, etc has not been furnished and therefore considering
these factors and the interest of the investors and the security
market, the respondent directed the appointment of a forensic
auditor to basically scrutinize the transfer agreement and the
share purchase agreement as well as find out the veracity of the 18
utilization of funds received from the sale proceeds such as
payments made to advisors, provisions relating to indemnity
obligations, tax liability and their appropriateness. Since the said
information was not supplied to the forensic auditor the
impugned order was passed. In the written submissions, the
respondent contended that evasie replies were given by the
appellant relating to the deposits in the escrow account/fixed
deposits. It was further stated that after the passing of the
impugned order there has been a diversion of funds to various
entities and accounts. The respondent however submitted that
there is approximately Rs 1002 crore in fixed deposits with Yes
Bank and IndusInd Bank.
25. Shri P.N. Modi, the learned senior counsel for the
intervener, on the other hand, contended that the interveners
hold 30.70% of the shareholding in the Company and even
though they voted in favour of the delisting they are equally
open to the distribution of the said sale proceeds by way of buy
back or by way of distribution of dividend or a combination
thereof. It was, thus, urged that it was necessary for the
Company to park some amount in an escrow account in order to
safeguard the interest of the minority shareholders. It was urged
that the forensic audit will indicate the inflow of funds, its usage 19
and the actual amount that would be available for distribution to
the shareholders. It was contented that the direction of SEBI to
deposit 1292.46 crore is valid and should not be modified.
26. Having heard the learned counsel for the parties at some
length we find that the direction of the WTM to deposit a sum
of Rs. 1292.46 crore is wholly arbitrary and has been passed
without any application of mind. Admittedly, the sale
consideration has to be distributed to the shareholders of the
Company after meeting the tax liability, indemnity, transaction
cost, debt outstanding etc. According to the Company which is
recorded in the impugned order, the total amount comes to Rs.
1026.44 crore and the balance left for distribution of the
shareholders is Rs. 854.40 crore which amount is also reflected
in the annual report 2018-19 as well as in the report of BSE
dated December 12, 2019. It may be stated here that 50% of Rs.
854.41 crore which comes to Rs. 427 crore will go the
promoters and promoters group and approximately Rs. 427
crore would go to the minority shareholders comprising 49%.
Thus, the direction to deposit the entire sale consideration of Rs.
1292 is neither appropriate nor beneficial to the survival of the
Company at this stage. The fact that 50% of the sale 20
consideration is also required to be distributed to the promoters
and promoters group has not been disputed by the respondent.
27. We also find that the reason for the respondent to be
suspicious is, that they are taking into consideration the floor
price of Rs. 63.77 per share which works out to Rs. 310.81 crore
and compared it to the total amount of Rs. 854.40 crore lying in
the escrow account. The conclusion drawn by taking the floor
price is patently erroneous and against the Delisting
Regulations. It may be stated here that the discovered price in
the delisting will be based on the price at which bids are placed
by the public shareholders as part of the reverse book building
mechanism specified in the Delisting Regulations. The public
shareholders is free to submit bids for tendering the equity
shares held by them at any price above the floor price which
they may deemed to be a fair exit price. The amount, thus, has
to be calculated only after determination of the discovered price
and not on the basis of offer price. In any case, the appellants
have offered to its shareholders Rs.100/ per share which comes
to Rs.490/ crore which fact has not been taken into
consideration by the respondents. Thus, in our view the
direction to deposit a sum of Rs. 1292.46 crore is patently
erroneous and cannot be sustained.
21
28. We are also of the opinion that the determination of price
of the shares of the Company is the domain of the shareholders
and SEBI has no say in it. Further, the submission of the
forensic report also has nothing to do so far as the application of
the appellant for delisting approval is concerned in as much as
the person / entity who has to pay to the shareholders in the
event the delisting application is allowed is the acquirer and, on
the other hand, the distribution of the sale consideration has to
be done by the Company. To that extent the learned senior
counsel Shri Rafique Dada's contention on this aspect is correct
and justified but, at the same time, the respondent cannot blow
hot and cold and this can be seen from the fact that the
respondent is not proceessing the delisting application and are
awaiting the result of the forensic report which is only confined
to the sale transactions and the distribution of the tax liability,
indemnity, transaction cost etc.
29. Considering the aforesaid, we are further of the opinion
that the respondent knowing fully well that a substantial amount
was parked in fixed deposits, the direction to the appellant to
deposit Rs. 1292. 46 crore in an escrow account is neither just
nor proper especially when there is no specific finding on 22
diversion of funds. The written note submitted by SEBI further
indicates that a sum of Rs1002 crore is lying in fixed deposits..
Therefore the direction to deposit further amount would cripple
the Company and bring it to down to its knees which is neither
in the interest of the Company nor in the interest of its
shareholders.
30. We are further of the opinion that the appellant is required
to cooperate and supply all the requisite documents asked for in
terms of the reference made by SEBI and should cooperate in
the submission of the forensic report. This is essential in order
to find out as to what is the inflow pursuant to the sale and what
amount is left after meeting the tax liabilities, indemnity,
transaction cost, etc. We also find that the distribution of the
sale consideration and / or the distribution of the share price of
the shareholders pursuant to the delisting application are
required to be done at the earliest as it is necessary in the
interest of the minority shareholders. In this regard Shri Janak
Dwarkadas fairly conceded that the Company will cooperate
and provide all the requisite papers asked by the forensic
auditor. Shri Dwarkadas further submitted that under the sale
consideration an amount of Rs. 427 crore is liable to be
distributed to the shareholders and if the offer of the acquirer is 23
accepted then the acquirer are liable to pay approximately Rs.
490 crore.
31. Be that as it may. The forensic audit will determine the
inflow of funds, its usage and the actual amount that would be
available for distribution to the shareholders. It is thus necessary
for the forensic auditor to submit a report on this as aspect at the
earliest. The learned senior counsel for the appellant has clearly
submitted that the appellants will provide the necessary
documents and fully cooperate with the forensic auditor.
32. Considering the urgency, we have proceeded to decide the
matter finally since no factual controversy is involved at this
stage.
33. In view of the aforesaid, the impugned order cannot be
sustained and is quashed. The appeal is allowed with the
following directions:-
(i) The appellant no. 1 Company shall deposit a sum of
Rs. 500 crore in a separate escrow account within
10 days from today, the details of which would be
supplied to SEBI and to the stock exchanges.
24 (ii) The amount so deposited shall not be utilized by the
appellants till the submission of the forensic report
and the decision taken by the respondent on the
distribution of the amount to the shareholders
and/or the delisting application.
(iii) The appellants shall provide all the necessary
information and documents relating to the sale, etc
and as asked by the forensic auditor in this regard
which is depicted in the impugned order within ten
days from today. SEBI will direct the forensic
auditor to furnish the forensic report within four
weeks from the date of the submission of the
documents supplied by the appellants ascertaining
the amount received from the sale and the amount
distributable to the shareholders after meeting tax
liability, indemnity, transaction cost, payment to
advisors, etc.
(iv) Simultaneously, the respondent shall process the
delisting application under the Delisting
Regulations and SEBI (Substantial Acquisition of 25
Shares and Takeover) Regulations 2011and pass
appropriate orders within six weeks from today.
(v) Upon deposit of Rs. 500 crore, the demat accounts
and bank accounts of appellant nos. 2 and 3 shall be
defreezed.
(vi) In the circumstances, there shall be no order as to
costs. The urgency and other misc. applications are
accordingly disposed of.
34. The present matter was heard through video conference
due to Covid-19 pandemic. At this stage it is not possible to sign
a copy of this order nor a certified copy of this order could be
issued by the registry. In these circumstances, this order will be
digitally signed by the Presiding Officer on behalf of the bench
and all concerned parties are directed to act on the digitally
signed copy of this order. Parties will act on production of a
digitally signed copy sent by fax and/or email.
Justice Tarun Agarwala Presiding Officer
Dr. C.K.G. Nair Member 26
TARUN Digitally signed by TARUN AGARWAL DN: c=IN, o=PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT UTTAR PRADESH, postalCode=221505, st=Uttar Pradesh, 2.5.4.20=30fcf68685192bbc53e6ff1608a83fb3881de7ac2ab79
AGARWAL 54d509c85ed6e0f7c41, serialNumber=095f8b286bb0b1cd07ff676611f4f5e7999727d4 04aa38ca422f9d3529bdb8a3, cn=TARUN AGARWAL Date: 2020.11.09 11:14:34 +05'30'
Justice M.T. Joshi Judicial Member 09.11.2020 msb
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