Supreme Court rejects SBI plea for resuming insolvency proceedings against Anil Ambani
The top court refused to vacate the stay granted by the Delhi High Court by its interim order on the personal insolvency proceedings against Ambani.
Ambani had given personal guarantees for the SBI loans of Rs 565 crore and Rs 635 crore to RCom and Reliance Infratel Ltd (RITL) in August 2016.
A bench of Justices L N Rao, Hemant Gupta and S Ravindra Bhatt asked the high court to take up the matter on October 6 and without any adjournment decide the case in view of the importance of the issue .
The bench said SBI is at liberty to seek modification of stay order before the high court.
Senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for Ambani, contended that to declare a man bankrupt has serious consequences and opposed vacation of stay on insolvency process.
On August 27, the high court had stayed the insolvency proceedings against Ambani in relation to recovery of Rs 1,200 crore loans given by SBI to his two firms.
It had also restrained Ambani from "transferring, alienating, encumbering or disposing of his assets or legal rights and interests therein till the next date of hearing".
It had issued notice to the Centre, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) and SBI seeking their stand on the plea by October 6, the next date of hearing.
The court had also said that the proceedings would continue in relation to the corporate debtor (the companies), and while dealing with those proceedings, the liability of the petitioner-personal guarantor (Ambani) may also be examined by the IRP.
Ambani in his plea has challenged the constitutionality of the IBBI (Insolvency Resolution Process for Personal Guarantors to Corporate Debtors) Regulations, 2019.
The Centre and the IBBI had opposed the stay of the insolvency process saying it could lead to the guarantor "frittering" away his assets.
SBI too had raised similar apprehensions during the hearing. It also urged the court to allow the resolution professional appointed by the NCLT to go on with his work and give a report, but the bench did not agree to it.
The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on August 20 had directed initiation of insolvency proceedings against Ambani under the personal guarantee clause of the bankruptcy law.
It had ordered the appointment of a resolution professional and asked SBI to take the necessary action.
The NCLT had also said both RCom and RITL committed default in repayment around January 2017.
The accounts were retrospectively declared as non-performing account (NPA) with effect from August 26, 2016, even before loan agreements had been entered into.
According to the NCLT order, around 2015-16, RCom had sought credit facilities of Rs 565 crore for repayment of certain existing financial debts and for credit facilities of Rs 635 crore for its sister concern RITL, also for the repayment of existing financial debts.
RCom filed for bankruptcy last year, consequently, its secured debt was estimated at around Rs 33,000 crore, while lenders submitted claims of around Rs 49,000 crore in August 2019.
In March this year the SBI board had approved a resolution plan for RCom that envisaged lenders recovering around Rs 23,000 crore, entailing a haircut of nearly 50 per cent. RCom owes nearly Rs 5,000 crore to SBI.
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AIITA welcomes Karnataka’s ban on obscene songs in school events
Bhatkal: The Karnataka unit of the All India Ideal Teachers Association (AIITA) has welcomed the Karnataka government’s decision to strictly ban school children from dancing to obscene songs during educational and cultural programmes in government, aided, and private schools across the state.
AIITA Karnataka State President M. R. Manvi congratulated the government for taking what he termed an important step to preserve the sanctity of education.
“Such decisions to safeguard the dignity of school children and uphold the values of education are the need of the hour. This rule should not be limited to government schools alone but must be strictly implemented in all private educational institutions as well,” he said.
He further urged the government to address other concerns within school programmes.
“The government should not only prohibit obscene dances in the name of school anniversaries, but also ensure that plays and dialogues that incite religious hatred are avoided. Schools should be centres of harmony, not platforms for spreading hatred,” he added.
According to a recent circular issued by the Department of School Education and Literacy, obscene dances are adversely affecting the mental health and moral values of students.
In this regard, schools have been advised to use songs that promote nationalism, positive thinking, the greatness of Kannada culture, and value-based traditions instead of inappropriate content during programmes.
The circular also emphasises that students should be dressed in decent attire.
AIITA also backed the department’s warning that disciplinary action would be taken against head teachers if such guidelines are violated. The association has further demanded that district Deputy Directors of Public Instruction strictly monitor the implementation of these rules.
