Dish TV board turns down Yes Bank request for EGM

SAYS YES BANK PROPOSAL REQUIRES CERTAIN PRIOR STEPS TO BE TAKEN UNDER SEBI REGULATIONS

Dish TV said it has rejected the requisition notice by its largest shareholder Yes Bank to hold an extraordinary general meeting (EGM) to reconstitute the board of the direct-to-home player on the technical ground as it requires certain prior approvals.

The board of Dish TV, in a meeting held on Wednesday, "unanimously agreed that the EGM cannot be called, as sought by Yes Bank Ltd vide the requisition notice dated September 21, 2021," to remove its Managing Director Jawahar Goel along with four other directors, besides others.

Dish TV board was of the opinion that Yes Bank Ltd's (YBL) proposal requires certain prior steps to be them under the applicable provisions of Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011.

Besides, they would also have to obtain prior approval under the Competition Act, 2002, said Dish TV while sharing the updates of the outcome of the board meeting.

"Owing to YBL being a banking company and YBL's shareholding in the company being a consequence of invocation of pledges, there are certain embargoes under the provisions of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949 read with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Substantial Acquisition of Shares and Takeovers) Regulations, 2011, because of which the said resolutions cannot be placed before the shareholders," said Dish TV.

Moreover, YBL's proposal also requires prior approval of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in respect of national security clearance as well as that of company's lenders," it added.

YBL, which holds 47.19 crore equity shares of the company representing 25.63% of Dish TV, has sought to remove Rashmi Aggarwal, Bhagwan Das Narang, Shankar Aggarwal and Ashok Kurien from the board of Dish TV besides Jawahar Goel. YBL has also sent the name of seven people -two Non-Executive Directors and five Independent Directors - to be nominated on the board of the company.