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| Edited By: dna Correspondent |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 04:45 AM IST
The Supreme Court has issued notices to India Infoline Ltd (IIFL), its managing director Nirmal Bhanwarlal Jain, former company secretary Nimish Ramesh Mehta and its directors on a petition filed by the GHCL Employees Stock Option Trust.
The trust has challenged a Delhi high court judgment that gave a clean chit to the officials but allowed the trial court to proceed against the company.
Earlier, GHCL Esop Trust had filed a case in June, 2008, in the Delhi high court which issued an order restraining India Infoline from selling further shares belonging to the GHCL Esop Trust.
The GHCL petition stated that IIFL had in June, 2008, sold off more than eight lakh shares in the open market even after the trust had paid all the dues as demanded by IIFL.
The case refers to the India Infoline-GHCL Esop Trust dispute wherein the trust paid a sum of Rs10.48 crore by way of cheque and demanded release of 20,46,195 GHCL’s shares. The cheque was subsequently encashed by IIFL. However, Indian Infoline, instead of releasing the shares as demanded by GHCL, sold 15,79,922 shares in June, 2008.
India Infoline claimed it sold the shares to offset the dues payable by other group companies of GHCL to it. India Infoline sold the above shares on a letter alleged to have been issued by GHCL Esop Trust granting permission to sell the shares lying in the Trust account for adjusting the dues payable by other companies to India Infoline.
The high court had, in December last year, partly quashed the metropolitian magistrate’s order summoning the officials to face trial pursuant to a criminal complaint filed by the trust.
GHCL Esop Trust then filed a criminal complaint against India Infoline, its directors and the company secretary under sections 406, 409, 415, 477A and 120B. The magistrate then issued a summons for appearance of the accused before him.
India Infoline filed a quashing petition before the Delhi high court under section 482 of the CrPC, but the high court passed an order directing continuance of the proceedings against India Infoline.
