SC to hear plea against Unitech takeover today

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear on Tuesday Unitech’s appeal against National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT) order permitting the central government to take over the company. A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra asked Attorney General KK Venugopal to let the court know how the government proposes to take care of the interest of homebuyers.

The NCLT, on December 8, gave the go-ahead to the ministry of company affairs (MCA) to name 10 nominee directors to the company’s board. As per the order, the government is required to furnish the names by December 20, the next date of hearing before the tribunal. The order came on MCA’S petition.

Before SC, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar appeared for Unitech and sought an immediate hearing of the appeal.

“The company has to pay ₹700 crore. Six of its accounts have been frozen,” the lawyer told Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra’s bench. He argued that the NCLT’S order was contrary to the top court’s direction, asking the company to pay dues to those who invested in their housing projects but failed to get possession of their flats.

“We want to deposit the money,” he submitted before the bench. Venguoapl informed the bench that the NCLT order was on a government petition, leading the CJI to seek a proposal from him on how the homebuyers would benefit from the move.

“How do you propose to take care of the homebuyers?” the CJI asked the AG. “The man is in jail. It is the nominated directors’ responsibility to comply with the order of the court,” he said.

“We are concerned about homebuyers, not the fixed depositors,” the bench clarified to the AG, while adjourning the case.