The Supreme Court of India on Monday decided to hear an submission against the recent order of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) that allowed the central government to appoint new management team for the debt-ridden real estate firm Unitech. The hearing will be held on December 12, Tuesday.
Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud considered the submission of the real estate company on Monday. The company argues that it could not deposit Rs 750 crore, as asked by the apex court, as the company's bank accounts remain frozen and its promoters jailed, Economic Times reported.
On October 30, the Supreme Court had directed Unitech to deposit Rs 750 crore by December to secure bail of Sanjay Chandra, the managing director of the company. Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra, another MD of the firm were arrested in April on charges of money laundering and for failing to deliver home projects to buyers.
Last week, the government received a nod from the bankruptcy court to appoint a new management for the realty giant Unitech. The NCLT also issued notices suspending all the eight directors of the company.
It was expected that the government could appoint about 10 directors, whose names were scheduled to be examined on December 20.
However, now as Unitech moved to the Supreme Court challenging NCLT's decision, it will likely halt the process of appointing new management.
NCLT, however, took the decision primarily because of allegations of fund diversion that adversely affected public interest. The company owes Rs 723 crore to 20,000 homebuyers and 51,000 depositors.
Meanwhile, shares of Unitech also rose as much as 20 percent after the NCLT authorised the government to change the director board of the company.
Shares of the company on Monday opened on a bullish note at Rs 8.40, and then rose to a high of Rs 8.70, pointing towards a jump of 19.47 percent over its previous closing price on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).
Likewise, similar movement was witnessed on the National Stock Exchange (NSE), where the stock opened at Rs 8.40 and touched a high of Rs 8.70, up 19.47 percent over its last close.
Unitech allegedly has more than Rs 6,000 crore debt with over 16,000 undelivered units in a total of nearly 70 construction projects.
