The
Supreme Court on Monday held that a National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
(NCLAT) bench comprising judicial member Rakesh Kumar and technical member Alok
Srivastava wilfully defied its October 13 order by going ahead with the
pronouncement of their verdict in the Finolex Cables case.
A
bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandarchud and Justices JB Pardiwala and
Manoj Misra, however, closed the contempt proceedings against Kumar and
Srivastava.
It
took note of the fact that the judicial member has resigned from his post and
Srivastava, who only followed the direction of Kumar, tendered an unconditional
apology.
We
are of the view that there was an attempt to defy the orders of this court, the
bench said.
The
bench, however, imposed a cost of Rs one crore on Deepak Chhabria, one of the
parties to the corporate dispute, and Rs 10 lakh on a scrutinizer for their
role in the case and said the amount be paid in four weeks.
The
amount will be deposited with the Prime Minister's relief fund, it said.
It
directed that the matter will be dealt afresh by another NCLAT bench presided
over by chairperson Justice Ashok Bhushan.
Earlier,
the top court had issued notices to the tribunal's judicial member and
technical member asking why contempt proceedings be not initiated against them
for defying apex court orders in the Finolex Cables case.
The
NCLAT bench had delivered a judgement on October 13 ignoring a status quo order
passed by the apex court.
The
top court had set aside the NCLAT bench's October 13 judgement relating to the
annual general meeting (AGM) of Finolex Cables without going into its merit.
The
court was dealing with a petition filed by the Prakash Chhabria-led Orbit
Electricals which is a promoter entity in Finolex Cables.
It
sought disclosure of the outcome of voting in the AGM of the company on the
agenda item pertaining to the reappointment of Deepak Chhabria as executive
chairman.
It
challenged the non-disclosure of the outcome of voting by shareholders
pertaining to the resolution related to the reappointment of Deepak Chhabria as
a "Whole-Time Director" designated as an "Executive
Chairman" in its AGM held on September 29.