Chennai: The Madras high court has permitted the 10 elected directors of Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank limited, to take charge subject to the ultimate outcome of the proceedings pending before it.
“For the present, without pronouncing a final verdict on the question of validity of the votes polled by certain shareholders and without also recording a finding whether these votes have been calculated or not, we pass an order declaring the aforesaid 10 persons as having been elected.
They are permitted to take charge subject to the ultimate outcome of these proceedings”, said a Division Bench comprising Justices V. Ramasubramanian and N. Kirubakaran while passing interim orders on a batch of petitions, suits and appeals from various parties, including Tamil Nadu Mercantile Bank Shareholders’ Welfare Association.
Referring to the submission of senior counsel P. Wilson on the question of declaration of results, the Bench said the contentions revolved round the order dated March 31, 2011 and the subsequent memo dated October 27, 2015 filed by RBI. But as rightly pointed out by C Mohan, counsel for RBI, the RST Limited and KATRA Holdings limited, even before March 31, 2011 claimed to have sold their shares to a company by name Subcontinental Equities.
The GHI Limited sold their 4.95 percent shares to Robert Ardies and James Company limited. According to Wilson, the transfer made by RST and KATRA to Subcontinental Equities has already been taken note of by RBI while passing the March 2011 order.
Therefore, RBI cannot go back on the March 2011 order. But unfortunately, the above contention loses sight of one important factor namely that at the time when RBI passed the order, the seller and purchaser themselves were on a war path. But subsequently, the dispute got resolved and the transfer was completed in December 2011.
Similarly, the sale by GHI limited to Robert Ardis and James Company happened in January 2012.
