Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 20

The Supreme Court on Wednesday held Reliance Communication chairman Anil Ambani and two directors guilty of contempt of court on a plea filed by Ericsson India against him over not clearing its dues of Rs 550 crore.

A Bench headed by Justice RF Rohinton asked the company to pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson in 4 weeks, failing which three-month jail will be imposed.

It asked the three Reliance companies to pay fine of Rs 1 crore each failing which contemnours will have to serve one-month jail term.

The undertakings given by the three Reliance companies showed that they had “no intention” to pay up within 120 days given by the court or even the extended time, it said.

The undertakings were “false” to the knowledge of the companies, which itself affected the administration of justice and amounted to contempt of court, it said.

While holding Anil Ambani and two directors of his company guilty of contempt, the top court rejected their unconstitutional apology, it said the three Reliance companies violated the 120-day deadline and did not pay up even after being given the extra 60 days.

The undertaking given was false and it affected administration of justice as they breached the undertaking given to the court, the Bench noted.

The Bench ordered the Supreme Court Registry to hand over Rs 118 cr deposited by RCom to Ericsson.

The Supreme Court had last week reserved its verdict on Ericsson India’s plea seeking contempt action.

During the hearing, Ambani, Reliance Telecom Ltd chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel Ltd chairperson Chhaya Virani were present in the courtroom.

On behalf of Ericsson India, senior advocate Dushyant Dave said there was wilful disobedience of the Supreme Court’s orders and contempt action should be initiated against Ambani and RCom officials.

Dave’s arguments were countered by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi who contended no contempt was made as no orders of the court were violated.

The court had on October 23 last year asked RCom to clear the dues by December 15, 2018, saying delayed payment would attract an interest of 12% per annum.

Ericsson India had sought that the court should direct Ambani and the lenders forum to hand over Rs 550 crore with interest from sale proceeds as per the October 23 order. It wanted the three alleged contemnors to be “detained in civil prison” unless they paid the money in terms of the court’s order. It had also sought directions to the Ministry of Home Affairs to prevent Ambani, Satish Seth and Chhaya Virani from leaving the country.

Dave told the top court on Tuesday that Reliance had committed contempt a number of times and they have not purged themselves. RCom violated two orders of the top court and even committed perjury by concealing information under oath, he had submitted.

Rohatgi said the deal worth Rs 25,000 crore to sell assets of the telecom company to Reliance Jio had fallen through and now they were in insolvency.