HC cuffs govt hand on Devas

The Registrar of Companies RoC in Bangalore has been questioning Devas for over six months about its various decisions to infuse capital in the company,including stake sale. Between August and November last year,the RoC carried out several inspections of documents at the office of the Bangalore-based company. In the last week of November,the government issued a notice to launch a formal investigation to probe alleged violations of the Companies Act by Devas.

That led to Devas moving the Delhi High Court in the first week of December,claiming that the government action against it was mala fide and reeked of administrative bias and prejudice. It alleged that the government was using the Companies Act as an instrument of persecution,coercion,intimidation and harassment.

Devas claimed it was being victimised as it had initiated arbitration proceedings seeking a reversal of the unilateral cancellation of its agreement with Antrix Corporation,ISROs marketing arm.

It was the invocation of this arbitration that has led to a series of actions on the part of the Government of India to browbeat and harass the company for no cause,rhyme or reason, the company said.

In an order on December 7,the HC granted temporary relief to Devas,asking the government not to take any coercive steps against the company. When the matter came up again this Tuesday,the government lawyer sought three weeks time to file a counter-affidavit. While granting time,the court reiterated that the interim orders passed on the last date of hearing would remain in force.

The government last month blacklisted four top space scientists,including former ISRO chief G Madhavan Nair,for their role in finalising the Antrix-Devas deal.

The litigation in Delhi HC is one of at least three ongoing court battles between the government and Devas. Following Devass decision to begin arbitration proceedings in June last year under the rules of the ICC,Antrix had approached the Supreme Court claiming that since Devas is based in Bangalore,arbitration must happen under Indian law.

In December,Antrix,which is owned by the government,moved a local court in Bangalore seeking a stay on the arbitration proceedings which are slated to begin next month. In its argument before the local court,Devas has said that since the matter is pending before the Supreme Court,Antrix cannot petition a lower court asking for similar relief. The matter will come up in the local court again later this month.

With inputs from Utkarsh Anand