NCLAT Judgement - 230817 - 105626
NCLAT Judgement - 230817 - 105626
NCLAT Judgement - 230817 - 105626
(Arising out of judgement and order dated 6th July, 2020 passed in
CP(CAA)/190/MB.I/2017 by National Company Law Tribunal, Mumbai
Bench)
IN THE MATTER OF:
Ashish O. Lalpuria
S/O Late Shri Om Prakash Lalpuria
R/O 14, Adarsh, 83 Nehru Road,
Near HDFC Bank, Ville Parle(E) Mumbai-400057 …Appellant
Versus
2. Union of India
Through Office of Regional Director
Western Region, Ministry of Corporate Affairs
5th floor, 100, Everest Building,
Marine Drive,
Mumbai 400002
3. BSE Limited
Phiroze Jeejeebhoy Towers,
Dalal Street, Mumbai-400001 …Respondents
Present:
JUDGMENT
(20th October, 2020)
Mr. Balvinder Singh, Member (Technical)
3. It is sated by the Appellant that on 12th January, 1995, the Respondent No.
1 company entered into capital market by way of Public Issue of 37,47,400
equity shares of Rs. 10/- each at an issue price of Rs. 160/- per share.
Pursuant to the payment of application money of Rs. 40/- per share
(consisting of 2.50/- against the face value of Rs. 10/- per share and Rs.
37.5/- towards the premium of Rs. 150/-), 37,47,400 shares were allotted
to successful applicants by the company. Out of the total offer size
13,34,400 shares were fully paid up. Application pertaining to 10,375
shares were aggregating to Rs. 16,60,000/- at Rs. 160/- per share were
deferred as the Application applied were for less than the minimum lot size
i.e. 100 shares. Instead of rejecting the said Application money which were
against the terms of public issue and refunding the said money immediately
after the allotment was completed, the company retained the money till
1998. By way of scheme of arrangement company sought to convert public
deposit into share capital as the retained application money, being a public
deposit attracted the provision of section 58 A of the erstwhile Companies
Act, 1956.
4. It is further stated that the shareholders of the remaining 24,13,000 shares
did not pay the balance amount of Rs. 120/- per share despite several calls
being made by the company. Therefore, on 14th August 1997, a special
resolution under section 391 of Companies Act, 1956 approving the
arrangement comprising of allotment of 25 fully paid up shares of Rs. 10/-
each in lieu of 100 partly paid up shares of Rs. 2.50/- each was passed by
the company. The explanatory statement for the said Special Resolution
clearly mentioned that the same is being contemplated under section 391
of Companies Act, 1956 and also speaks about applications to be made to
SEBI and Bombay High Court. Instead of obtaining sanction from these
Authorities, an opinion was taken from Hon’ble Y.V. ChandraChud,
Retired CJI on whether this Arrangement would tantamount to reduction
as the revised Capital structure would not have been admitted by them. It
is an undisputed fact that unless securities of any listed company are not
granted listing permission by the stock exchange(s), the same are not
admitted by the depositories. It was only due to this and certain other non-
compliances, BSE suspended trading in the securities of the Company on
7th January, 2002. The Company could have challenged the suspension
order before appropriate forum in the year 2002 itself. Considering the
most important fact that before suspending the trading the securities of any
company, Stock Exchanges issues show-cause notices periodically, clearly
giving the details of non-compliances to be made good.
8. It is further submitted that the Respondent No. 1 Company, all through
these years was under the blind belief that the Statutory Authorities have
accepted the Capital Reduction and was unaware of the BSE Rejection
Letter dated 6th May, 1999 until in the year 2012 when the company was
proposing to make a preferential allotment to Bank of Baroda, was made
aware of the said fact (reason mentioned by the company for non-receipt
of the said rejection letter is due to change in address). On 4th June 2010,
SEBI amended Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act (SCRA) which
provided that all the Listed Companies other than Public Sector Companies
were required to maintain public shareholding of at least 25% within a
period of 3 years. Since the public shareholding of the Respondent No. 1
Company was less than minimum statutory requirement, it was required to
fulfil the requirement within the said time frame as prescribed by SEBI.
9. It is further submitted by the Appellant that on failure of the company with
the said requirements SEBI on 4th June, 2013, vide order passed stern
orders against the Company, Director and promoters by imposing severe
restrictions and with a warning to take further steps in the event of
continued default. All through these years company did not care about the
distressed shareholders who were unable to sell their shares due to newly
issued shares being labelled as illegal by the Stock Exchange and due to
prohibition in trading. Only after the said SEBI order, the Company and its
Director presented the scheme to save their skin from the clutches of SEBI
rather than for well being of shareholders as mentioned in the petition for
portraying it as an “investor friendly” proposition.
10.It is further stated by the Appellant that after learning about the said order
the Respondent No. 1 Company filed an application with BSE on 22nd July,
2013 for revocation of suspension of trading. However, no such evidence
was attached in the petition filed by the company. Upon receipt of the letter
from the Company, BSE advised the Company to implement Reduction of
Capital through Scheme/ Court or approach Registrar of Companies (RoC)
for alternative remedy.
11.It is further stated by the Appellant that the Company filed the Scheme of
Arrangement before the Bombay High Court. On 11th December, 2015, the
Company was directed to convene meeting of shareholders and creditors.
As per the Order and as per the directions, a meeting of Equity
Shareholders and Creditors was held on 8th February, 2016. Finally, on 8th
March, 2016, the Company filed the scheme petition before the Bombay
High Court and thereafter, in December 2016 for confirmation the said
matter was transferred to NCLT, Mumbai Bench and numbered as CP 190
of 2017.
12.It is also stated by the Appellant that the Regional Director, Western
Region, Mumbai also submitted its preliminary representation and
requested NCLT to dismiss the Petition on the following grounds:
17.It is submitted by the learned counsel for respondent no 1 that the appellant
was not even a shareholder of Respondent No. 1 Company at the time of
the court convened meeting held on 08.02.2016. The father of the
18. It is further submitted by the learned counsel for respondent no 1 that the
appeal filed is frivolous, vexatious and appears on the face of it to be
malicious prosecution. It is averred that as per the said Scheme, the
appellant shall be allotted 21 new bonus shares on its present 15 shares.
Further, all rights of the shareholders including the appellants are duly
protected. The Directors have no interest in the Scheme and it is a duly
sanctioned investor friendly Scheme. The only purpose of the said appeal,
according to learned counsel, is to harass and blackmail the respondent no
11, in order to avail some sort of ransom or monetary benefit.
19.It is further submitted that the vital part of the Scheme approved by NCLT
is already implemented and at such an advanced stage, the Scheme cannot
be challenged. The Scheme was already brought in effect on 01.08.2020,
and the vital part of the Scheme is already implemented including the
issuance of 21,04,865 bonus shares to the shareholder including the
appellant. Hence, the prayers sought in the said appeal are now infructuous
and cannot be entertained.
20.It is submitted that presently the impugned Scheme is on the verge of final
implementation and may be fully implemented by 25.09.2020. Form INC-
28 was duly filed by the answering respondent with the Registrar of
Companies, Mumbai on 01.08.2020 and has been approved on 01.09.2020.
21.Learned counsel has further stated the present status of the implementation
of the Scheme after around 72 days of the impugned order dated
06.07.2020 having being passed:
22.It is submitted by the learned counsel that the appellant has raised fresh
objections and grounds for the first time as a matter of convenience and as
an afterthought. The appellant had sufficiently raised his objections before
the High Court of Bombay/ NCLT in the affidavit dated 22.08.2016.
Learned counsel for the respondent averred that this is against the settled
position of law that no new grounds can be raised in the appeal, if they
were not originally pleaded before the original court of jurisdiction.
23.It is further submitted that all the arguments and contentions advanced by
the appellant were sufficiently heard and considered by NCLT, only after
which NCLT dismissed the said objections and approved the Scheme as
being fair, reasonable, investor friendly and in the wider interest of the
public shareholders. He has placed reliance on para 25 of the impugned
order, dated 06.07.2020 which is reproduced below:
24. It is submitted by the learned counsel for Respondent No. 1 that the
Appellant is trying to mislead and misguide this Tribunal by filing
incomplete pleading and veiling the relevant documents which were
originally filed before NCLT/ High Court of Bombay. Prima facie, it
appears that the appellant has omitted to place on record crucial documents
in the appeal including its own objection affidavit filed before the High
Court of Bombay and the reply filed by the Respondent No. 1. It is averred
that this is an attempt on the part of the Appellant to derail the legal process
and hamper the interests of the rest of the majority non-promoter
shareholders.
The appellant mentioned the said IA with similar facts and prayers before
this Tribunal on 16.09.2020 without serving a copy to the answering
respondents or disclosing that the matter has been mentioned. The contents
of the said Contempt Petition filed before NCLT and the IA served on 17th
September, 2020 as entirely the same with same prayers.
26.It is further submitted that the IA served upon the answering respondent on
17th September, 2020 is in gross violation of Section 340 CrPC, 1973 and
the NCLAT Rules, 2016 as the appellant fixed his signatures at Mumbai
and has got the affidavit attested by a notary in Delhi. The appellant has
omitted his signatures at one place in the affidavit and it is alleged by
counsel for Respondent No. 1 that the counsel for the Appellant has affixed
her signatures instead of the client.
27.We have heard the learned counsel for the parties and perused the record.
The proposed scheme of compromise and arrangement should not be
violative of any provisions of law and is not contrary to public policy. It is
apparent from the records that there were irregularities and non-
compliances from a very long time due to which Stock Exchange took
action against the Respondent No. 1 Company and suspended the trading
of its securities in the year 2002. Nothing has been brought on record that
the Respondent No. 1 Company have taken any serious actions to make the
requisite compliances so that trading of the shares of the company can be
resumed. Non action of the Respondent No. 1 Company have serious
impact on the investors who have invested their hard money in the
company. These non-compliances and irregularities or any illegal act
already committed cannot be ratified under the umbrella of “scheme” as
envisaged under Section 230-232 of Companies Act, 2013.
The company has acted only on the legal opinion dated 3.11.1997
and not acted on the basis of the letter and spirit of provisions of
Section 100 of the Companies Act,1956.
Subscription made by each of the shareholders less than 100 each
which is not acceptable.
Letter of Bombay Stock Exchange dated 6.5.1999 not received
by the company and they only came to know in the year 2012 is
also not acceptable since the company was listed and was in
touch with the Bombay Stock Exchange, the reason mentioned
above is not justifiable.
The present scheme is made only as per the advice of the Bombay
Stock Exchange in the year 2013 which is not acceptable since
the company has to comply with the Companies Act, 1956 before
the letter received from the Bombay Stock Exchange.
under law. Only after the SEBI order the Respondent No. 1 Company was
compelled to take a decision and therefore it brought forth a proposal, as a
scheme in order to safeguard their directors and the Company.
30. It is pertinent to note under section 230 (5) provides that a notice under
sub-section (3) along with all the documents in such form as may be
prescribed shall also be sent to the Central Government, the income-tax
authorities, the Reserve Bank of India, the Securities and Exchange Board,
the Registrar, the respective stock exchanges, the Official Liquidator, the
Competition Commission of India established under sub-section (1) of
section 7 of the Competition Act, 2002, if necessary, and such other
sectorial regulators or authorities which are likely to be affected by the
compromise or arrangement and shall require that representations, if any,
to be made by them shall be made within a period of thirty days from the
date of receipt of such notice, failing which, it shall be presumed that they
have no representations to make on the proposals. The basic intent behind
this provisions of law is that these authorities plays a vital role in the overall
legal structure and should work harmoniously with the Tribunal in order to
ensure that the proposed scheme is not violative of any provision of law
and is also not against the public policy.
31.NCLT has overruled the objections raised by the Regional Director on the
ground that the objections are mere on the procedural aspects and do not
raise any illegality in the scheme or that it is against public policy. Even if
the objections are procedural but it is the jurisdiction of the Tribunal that
such procedural aspects need to be duly complied with before sanctioning
of the scheme, as it would lay down a wrong precedent which would allow
companies to do whatever acts without the compliances and confirmation
of the Court and other sectoral and regulatory authorities and thereafter get
it ratified by the Court under the Umbrella of “scheme”. It should have
32.The Scheme under section 230 of Companies Act, 2013 cannot be used as
a method of rectification of the actions already taken. Before the scheme
gets approved, the company must be in compliance with all the public
authorities and should come out clean. There must be no actions pending
against the company by the public authorities before sanctioning of a
scheme under section 230 of the Companies Act, 2013.
33.In light of the above observations the appeal is allowed and we set aside
the impugned order dated 6th July, 2020 passed by National Company Law
Tribunal, Mumbai.
We are further directing the Respondent No. 1 Company to undo all the
actions taken in line with the scheme sanctioned by the NCLT, Mumbai
Bench. The Regional Director, Western Region, Mumbai may observe the
compliances of the same. No order as to cost.