The Bombay high court on Monday reserved its order till December 9, on a Reliance Industries Ltd petition seeking approval of the demerger scheme worked out as part of a settlement between Ambani siblings, Mukesh and Anil.
The order was reserved by Justice Nishita Mhatre after arguments by RIL and shareholder Kalpesh Bharatkumar Mankad, who is opposing the petition, concluded on Monday.
Mankad argued that RIL had indulged in unfair practice towards its shareholders and saw the demerger scheme as more of a kind of family arrangement than a business separation.
He submitted that the committee formed under chairmanship of retired High Court Judge M L Pendse had not disclosed to the court, the objections filed by him during the extraordinary general meeting of RIL held on October 21.
RIL has sought dismissal of the intervening application of the shareholder, opposing the scheme, saying he was holding to ransom the entire process of demerger of RIL having around 2 million shareholders.
RIL, the country's largest private enterprise, further argued that the objections raised by the intervening shareholder were speculative in nature.
Mankad said in an affidavit that despite demerger of assets worth Rs 19,119.54 crore (Rs 191.19 billion), the description given by RIL does not specify which assets and liabilities would be transferred to the new entities and that had created doubts in the minds of the shareholders.
He further said the proposed demerger scheme be held in abeyance until the action taken report of corporate governance issues raised by RIL's Ex-VC and MD Anil Ambani was put before the high court and scrutinised by Sebi and department of company affairs (DCA).
Earlier, Mukesh Ambani-controlled RIL had moved the court on September 13 seeking its approval on the demerger to bring about a settlement between Ambani brothers.
The court had asked RIL to inform about the shareholder's approval of the demerger scheme and accordingly, RIL formed a committee headed by Justice Pendse to hold an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders and submit his report to the court. The EGM was held on October 21 in which a majority of the shareholders approved the scheme.
After the announcement of settlement on June 17, the RIL Board had on August five approved the demerger scheme, under which all RIL shareholders will get one share each in the four new companies with effect from September 1.
