Chief Justice of India Sharad
Arvind Bobde, who is heading the bench hearing the high-stake Tata-Mistry case
on Monday disclosed that his advocate son Shrinivas Bobde, has been
representing a subsidiary company of Shapoorji Pallonji Group in a slum
redevelopment matter for about two years.
The top court is hearing cross
appeals filed by Tata Sons and Cyrus Investments against appellate tribunal
NCLAT's order which had restored Cyrus Mistry as the executive chairman of the
over $100 billion salt-to-software Tata conglomerate.
A bench of the Chief Justice and
Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian asked the lawyers appearing for both
Tata Group and SP Group, whether they have any objections with the disclosure.
Senior advocates Harish Salve, appearing for Tatas and CA Sundaram,
representing SP Group said that they have no objection with the Chief Justice
led bench hearing the matter, which continued for the fourth day.
“Over the weekend, I came to know
that my son who is in Bombay has been appearing for a subsidiary of SP Group in
a slum redevelopment matter for about two years. I thought of disclosing it to
the parties, in case any of you have any objections to this court hearing the
case,” the CJI said.
Salve said that even he had
appeared in the same matter and he has no objection with the CJI-led bench
hearing the case. Sundaram also concurred with Salve and said that they all
appear for some company or the others and he also does not have any objection.
The CJI said that these days such
issues potentially create problems at a later stage. The bench noted in its
order, “Today when the matter was taken up for hearing, this Court disclosed to
the Bar that Shrinivas Bobde, learned counsel, has been appearing on behalf of
a subsidiary company of Shapoorji Pallonji Group at Mumbai in a matter
regarding slum rehabilitation for about two years.”
It said, “Senior counsel/counsel
appearing for the parties' viz.,Harish N. Salve, A.M. Singhvi, C.A. Sundaram,
Mohan Parasaran, Shyam Divan, Fereshte D. Sethna, etc., have stated that they
have no objection to this Court deciding the present matters.”
The bench said the joint
statement made by counsel appearing for the parties is being taken on record.
Sundaram, who resumed his arguments, referred to various legal provisions and
judgements related to winding up of the companies.
The hearing remained inconclusive
and would continue on Tuesday. Earlier, the Tatas had opposed as “nonsense” the
Shapoorji Pallonji Group's proposal that its 18.37 per cent stake in the Tata
Sons, which it claims to be worth Rs 1.75 lakh crore, be swapped with the
shares in the Tata group's listed companies. The SP group is seeking pro-rata
shares in Tata group's listed companies in lieu of its 18.37 stake in Tata Sons
Private Ltd (TSPL), the holding company of group firms.
Earlier, the Tatas had told the
court that the valuation of 18.37 per cent shares owned by the SP Group in Tata
Sons is between Rs 70,000 crore and Rs 80,000 crore. The SP Group said however
that it was worth Rs 1.75 lakh crore.
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