RTIs to the Supreme Court of India and the DHFL Victims: An Impromptu Podcast

RTIs to the Supreme Court of India and the DHFL Victims: An Impromptu Podcast

Posted on 27/02/2024 (GMT 17: 05 hrs)

We are heartily grateful to the RTI Cell, Honourable Supreme Court of India, for its kind and friendly cooperation with the OBMA RTI Activists in relation to the DHFL Scam.

With regard to the two appeals filed to the CPIO in relation to the following two RTIs to the Supreme Court of India made by one of the DHFL victims, Dr. Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay, the RTI Cell headed by The Registrar of the Supreme Court of India decided to call Dr. Bandyopadhyay via the mode of video conferencing hearing on 26/02/2024 at 12:30 pm (IST):

Two of the OBMA Founder-Activists, Dr. Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay and Akhar Bandyopadhyay, discussed the impact and consequences of such a call from the SCI over a spontaneous OBMA Podcast, which is given as follows:

RTIs to the Supreme Court of India and the DHFL Victims: An Impromptu Podcast VIEW HERE ⤡

After the scheduled hearing at the RTI cell, Supreme Court of India, the following two updates could be shared in this context as of now:

1. There will be an upcoming order from the concerned FAA of the SCI regarding further action to be taken on my two appeals.

2. The PIL cell of the SCI is now dealing with our mass petition, which is being verified (as per the FAA) by the said body.

The following is the script that was prepared for the Video Conference, for everyone’s further information:

I am presenting the following points on behalf of all the DHFL victims, who cannot afford to reach the pulpit of the Hon’ble SC, for the justice following the infringement of the international business-related human rights as recognized in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights under the notion of “Financial Abuse”, though we know that the international law is the vanishing point of jurisprudence. I am thankful to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India for providing me with this opportunity to attend this session at 12:30 pm on 26/02/2024.

The matter for which I had filed the two aforementioned RTIs to the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India is a part of crony electoral bonds, which has recently been declared as “unconstitutional” by a Supreme Court Bench headed by our respected CJI on 15th February, 2024.

The narrative of the DHFL had started with two incidents:

a)    Mr. Ajay Piramal (in retrospect, the supposed “future owner” of the DHFL) predicting “two shocks in NBFC sector” on 28.01.2019.

b)    Cobrapost’s report on the DHFL on 29.01.2019, giving details on the biggest financial scam in India’s financial history.

Moreover, the DHFL was put under the IBC by the RBI and referred to the NCLT to initiate Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) at the end of 2019 as a “litmus test” or on the basis of experimenting with the DHFL victims as if they are guinea pigs , since this was the first case under the IBC. Till the time when payments to FD-NCD holders were stopped by the Bombay High Court in October 2019, DHFL was supposedly meeting all its payment obligations as an ongoing, solvent concern under the Wadhawan administration and allegedly never delayed in any of its payments. Then why was it still declared bankrupt?

We are now presenting you with a few key points in defence of the DHFL victims:

With relation to the pending cases on the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) Scam at the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India that have been mentioned in both of my RTIs (61/2024 and 62/2024), the following could be further clarified for your kind attention and consideration:

1.     First of all, I would like to point out the fact that the Hon’ble NCLT (Mumbai Bench) in its verdict dated 19.05.2021 [IA 2431 of 2020 In CP (IB) 4258/MB/C-II/2019] directed the RBI-appointed Committee of Creditors (CoC) for the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) to reconsider the full repayment settlement proposal offered by the erstwhile owners of the DHFL, i.e., the Wadhawan Brothers. The NCLT order also said that the Wadhawans’ proposal has not been made available to the fixed-deposit and non-convertible debenture holders who constituted more than 65% of the total vote share of the CoC. The said order was allegedly ignored by the CoC and they rushed off to the Hon’ble NCLAT to get the order stayed within a few days on 25.05.2021 without answering the NCLT’s questions regarding old promoters rights within the stipulated time period of ten days. Is this or is this not a possible case of contempt of court? Mr. Piramal along with the CoC has thus possibly/allegedly violated Article 215 of the Indian Constitution.

After the said NCLT’s first order in May 2021, the DHFL lenders stated that the NCLT order may set a bad precedent, wherein if the impugned orders were allowed to operate, it would be extremely prejudicial as it creates a new process, which is said to be going contrary to the express provisions of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code and, if allowed, the CIRP will be never ending where parties will be permitted to keep making offers.

Whether good or bad precedent, the fact shall remain a fact. Even if stayed at a higher tribunal, the NCLT order retains its archival validity and deserves some consideration at your apex court of law.

When the old promoters were willing to pay back the entire due amount to all the FD and NCD Holders at least for three-four times (October 2020, December 2020, January 2021, March 2022 respectively), what was the need for third party intervention through a bidding war under the IBC (2016, amended 35+ times) spanning from November-December 2019 till January 2021 that led to Mr. Ajay Piramal’s resolution plan involving huge haircuts for the FD and NCD holders being passed by the CoC (January 2021), the RBI (18.02.2021), the Competition Commission of India or CCI (April 2021) and the NCLT (in another verdict given on 07.06.2021)?

2.     Secondly, the NCLAT (Principal Bench, New Delhi) order dated 27.01.2022 [Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 454 of 2021 AND Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 455 of 2021 AND Company Appeal (AT) (Insolvency) No. 750 of 2021] in relation to the 63 Moons’ Technologies’ case pertinently pointed out that many elements in the resolution process (especially the recoveries on avoidance transactions) headed by the CoC for DHFL were contrary to law, full of material irregularities in the exercise of the powers by the resolution professional and void ab initio (Pages 11, 17, 33, 70, 82, 84, 93, 97) to that extent as maintained by the law. This order was stayed at the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 11.04.2022 upon Mr. Piramal’s and some CoC members’ appeals in March 2022. Is this a blanket stay order or merely an ex parte stay that could be reheard, reconsidered and taken up for due consideration of justice by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India? [Case No. 5046/2022 (25-02-2022 12:31 PM) C.A. No. 001632 – 001634 / 2022 Registered on 25-02-2022]

Unless NCLAT’s observations on the CoC-approved resolution plan for DHFL is closely scrutinized by your Hon’ble court, the resolution of the DHFL victims’ misery seems to be farfetched.

3.     It appears that the DHFL deal that was forcibly passed to Mr. Ajay Piramal by equating a 45k crore worth of assets with only a rupee was possibly a quid pro quo affair between Mr. Piramal (as the secondary kin of the favoured business tycoon, Mr. Mukesh Ambani) and the current ruling party of India, in which Mr. Piramal presumably got his return gift for his crony service (as revealed in the Electoral Bonds Scam Verdict, 15th February, 2024) to the present government during the Flashnet Scam, in which Mr. Piramal bought Union Minister Piyush Goyal’s company at a premium of 1000 times of the book/face value in 2018. Mr. Piramal has possibly acquired the DHFL through adverse possession (ignoring Tort Law), simply based on the verdict given by the lowest quasi-judicial body, viz., the NCLT, on 07.06.2021. How can Mr. Piramal occupy the DHFL when the previously mentioned cases are still pending in the apex court of law, i.e., when the matter is still sub judice or under adjudication?

4.     The current ruling party of India is closely associated with this DHFL scam as they allegedly got political donation/political charity/terror-funding via the shadow economy of India, i.e., the international terrorist gang involving people such as Dawood Ibrahim, late Iqbal Mirchi and others along with RKW Developers (Dheeraj Realty) and the DHFL. This was reported by the Cobrapost in its January 2019 report. As said earlier, the donations are given not for any altruistic reason, but for profits. Shell companies are usually created by the corporate as a compensatory process after they donate large chunks of money to the domineering political parties. The supposed “crimes” or predicate offences of the Wadhawans or other intermediaries in the process are but part of a larger money-laundering design by the current ruling party of India as the richest political party, as per the ADR report (05/10/2023: BJP richest party in India with Rs 6,064 cr in ’21-22, a rise of Rs 1,050 cr over previous yr: ADR).

5.     The entire DHFL scam is an instantiation of the curtailment of the international business-related human rights as recognized in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights under the notion of “Financial Abuse” (in this context, “Access to remedy for victims of business-related abuses”). 

However, we cannot approach the OHCHR (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations) unless the domestic legal processes are exhausted.

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