Bombay HC turns down Dish TV promoter company's plea on pledged shares
Bombay High Court on Monday rejected World Crest Advisors LLP's application that sought the court's intervention to restrain YES Bank and JC Flowers Asset Reconstruction from exercising any rights with respect to their pledged shares.
World Crest Advisors LLP is a promoter group entity of direct-to-home (DTH) company Dish TV India.
Jawahar Goel, the former CMD of Dish TV and younger brother of Essel Group founder Subhash Chandra, controls World Crest Advisors LLP.
Dish TV's promoter had sought to restrain the lender from exercising its voting rights, interfering in or seeking to participate in the management and affairs of the company, or claiming rights to the shares.
«In the present case, the use of the pledged goods will include the exercise of voting rights since the pledged goods are shares,» observed Justice RI Chagla while disposing of an application filed by Dish TV promoters.
«Thus, in my prima facie view, the pledge deeds, by including in their terms the exercise of voting rights by the pledgee, will neither be contrary to law, lead to conversion, nor amount to the mortgage of movables.»
Before that, appearing for World Crest, Senior Counsel Navroz Seervai along with law firm ANB Legal argued that the pledgee has only a 'special interest' in the pledged goods, but YES Bank has repeatedly sought to exercise rights of ownership, including voting rights in respect of the shares, which is contrary to the statutory law and judicial pronouncements.
Countering this, Senior Advocate Darius Khambata and Gathi Prakash of law firm Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas, appearing for YES Bank and JC Flowers, argued that voting rights have been expressly conferred on the pledgee, both under the pledge deeds and under the POAs (Powers
