No urgent relief to Wadia Group in Bank of Baroda case
Bombay High Court (HC) has refused to grant urgent relief to Wadia Group, which sought to restrain Bank of Baroda from invoking a corporate guarantee of ₹500 crore given by one of its group companies at the instance of Go First Airlines.
Nowrosjee Wadia & Sons Ltd (NWS) had approached the court to «temporarily injunct and restrain» Bank of Baroda from making the demand.
Wadia Group has also sought an injunction against the lender from proceeding in accordance with law pursuant to such invocation, mainly on the grounds that the corporate guarantee had lapsed as the condition of tie-up of ₹2,835 crore was attained by the borrower in January 2020.
«Considering the stated stand of the bank that it can act in furtherance of such demands only by instituting legal proceedings in accordance with the law, this court is of the opinion that there is no case made out for urgent ad-interim reliefs by the applicant (NWS),» Justice Manish Pitale said in his order on March 28. The court will hear the matter on May 7.
Before the court's order, senior counsel Navroz Seervai, appearing for the Wadia Group, argued that the bank may invoke provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and this may lead to a situation where the claim of the respondent bank as defined under the code, even being treated as a disputed or undisputed amount, may lead to orders being passed against the applicant.
«The matter is subjudice and hence we would not be able to comment on this subject,» said a Wadia Group spokesperson.
Nishit Dhruva,
