2018 Supreme(SC) 2002
SUPREME COURT OF INDIA
ARUN MISHRA, UDAY UMESH LALIT, JJ.
Bikram Chatterji & Ors – Appellant
Versus
Union of India & Ors – Respondent
Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No. 940 of 2017
Decided On : 06-09-2018
Advocate Appeared:
For the Appellant : Mr. M.L. Lahoty, Adv. Mr. Paban K. Sharma, Adv. Mr. Anchit Sripat, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, Adv. Mr. Jamnesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Jain, Adv. Mr. Prakash Chandra Sharma, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Jain, Adv. Mr. Prakash Chandra Sharma, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Jamnesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Himanshu Shekhar, AOR Mr. Ajit Kumar Sinha, Sr.Adv. Mr. Ashwarya Sinha, AOR Mr. Shwetabh Sinha, Adv. Ms. Alankrita Sinha, Adv. Ms. Nitya Ramakrishnan, Adv. Ms. Priyanka Rao, Adv. Mr. Shadan Farasat, AOR Ms. Rudrakshi Deo, Adv. Mr. Suhail R. Bhat, Adv. Mr. Dinesh K. Garg, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Garg, Adv. Mr. Dhananjay Garg, Adv. Mr. Deepak Mishra, Adv. Mr. Randhir K. Sinha, Adv. Mr. Dinesh Kumar Garg, Adv. Mr. Dhananjay Garg, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Garg, Adv. Mr. Deepak Mishra, Adv. Mr. R.P. Bansal, Adv. Mr. Rahul Kumar Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Chandan Ramamurthi, AOR Ms. Sangeeta Singh, Adv. Mr. Kamla Singh, Adv. Mr. Prakash Ranjan Nayak, Adv. Mr. S.K.R., Sr. Adv. Mr. Shivankar S., Adv. Ms. Amita singh kalkal, Adv. Mr. R. Sathish, AOR Mr. Mohan Das K.K.,Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar, Adv. Mrs. S. Geetha, Adv. Mrs. Smitha Rani, Adv. Mr. Sayaree Basu Mallik, AOR Mr. Vivek Narayan Sharma, AOR Mr. Pragyan Mishra, Adv. Ms. Monika Jain, Adv. Dr. Shesh Mani Pandey, Adv. Mr. Maneesh Pathak, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Jha, Adv. Mr. Sidharth Mahajan, Adv. Mr. Shubham Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Akash Sharma, Adv. Mr. Rajeev Kumar Jha, Adv. Mr. Ajay Singh, Adv. Mr. H. Gautam, Adv. Dr. Farrukh Khan, Adv. Ms. Akanksha Singh, Adv. Mr. Taranjit Singh, Adv. Mr. Suman Tripathy, Adv. Mr. Rameshwar Prasad Goyal, AOR Mr. Nitin Bajpai, Adv. Mr. Udit Grover, Adv. Mr. Akshay G., Adv. Mr. A.K. Bajpai, Adv. Mr. Divakar Kumar, Adv. AOR Mr. Prithvi Pal, AOR Mr. Naresh Kumar Nagar, Adv. Mr. Shovan Mishra, AOR Mr. Sanjeev Sen, Sr. Adv. Mr. Raj Kamal, AOR Mr. Benant Noor Singh Marok, Adv. Mr. Maheen Pradhan, Adv. Mr. Varun Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Gopal Jha, AOR Mr. Kumar Meherar, Adv. Ms. Anjana Prakash, Sr.Adv. Mr. Sukant Vikram, Adv. Ms. Mahalakshmi Pavni, Sr. Adv. Mr. G. Balaji, adv. Ms. Shiva Vijaya Kumar, Adv Mr. M.S. Vishnu Sankar, Adv. Ms. Athira G. Nair, Adv. Ms. Usha V. Nandini, Adv. Mr. Sriram P., Adv. Mr. Tomy Chacko, Adv. Mr. Manish Saran, Adv. Mr. Satya Prakash Sharan, Adv. Mr. Yash Prakash Sharan, Adv. Mr. Akash Nagar, Adv. Mr. Jaibir Singh Nagar, Adv. Mr. Siddhartha Jha, Adv. Mr. Sinha Shrey, Adv. Mr. Sumit Sinha, Adv. Mr. V.N. Sinha, Sr. Adv. Mr. Sandeep Jha, Adv. Mr. Ram Ekbal Roy, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Verma, Adv. Mr. Binay Kr. Das, Adv. Mr. Vijay Kumar, Adv. Mr. Thomas Dommen, Adv. Mr. Aniruddha P. Mayee, Adv. Mr. Ranjay, Adv. Mr. Usman Ghanikhan, Adv. Mr. Pallavi Pratap, Adv. Mr. Pawanshree Agrawal, Adv.(A.C.) Mr. Abdul Azam Kalebudde, Adv. Ms. Teharabi Kalebudde, Adv. Ms. Suman Tripathy, Adv. Mr. R.P. Goyal, Adv. Mr. G.C. Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Kailash Pd. Pandey, Adv. Mr. B. Tyagi, Adv. Mr. Aneesh Mittal, Adv. Mr. Shreya Sharma, Adv. Mr. Nitin Jain, Adv. Ms. Indrani Mukherjee, Adv. Ms. Tatini Basu, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Bhandari, Adv. Ms. Nittasha Garg, Adv. Mr. Naveen Kumar, Adv. Dr. Shashwat Bajpai, Adv. Mr. Sharad Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Rohit Amit S., Adv. Mr. Ashok Kumar Singh, Adv. Mr. Shantwanu Singh, Adv. Mr. Chirojit Mukherjee, Adv. Mr. Sarvagaua, Adv. Mr. Surinder D. Sharma, Adv. Mr. Meghsham S. B., Adv. Mr. Murari Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sanket Sharma, Adv. Mr. S.S. Ray, Adv. Mr. Vaibhav Gulia, Adv. Ms. Praveena Gauram, Adv. Mr. Jitesh P. Gupta, Adv. Ms. Ashwarya Bhati, AAG Mr. Pradeep Misra, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Shrivastava, Adv. Mr. Rahul Gupta, Adv. Mr. Jasmine Damkewala, Adv. Mr. Pallav Mongia, Adv. Mr. Dinesh Chander Trehan, Adv. Mr. Sukant Vikram, Adv. Mr. Abhinav Ankit, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Sahni, Adv. Mr. Ratnakar Das, Sr. Adv. Mr. Rohit Pandey, Adv. Mr. Anushruti Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar Pandey, Adv. Mr. Prabhu Singh, Adv. Ms. Shweta, Adv. Mr. Balraj Diwan, Adv. Mr. Anshuman Dwivedi, Adv. Mr. E.R. Sumathy, Adv. Ms. Savita Aggarwal, Adv. NBCC Ms. Pinky Anand, ASG Ms. Binoy Susan, Adv. Ms. Neha Sharma, Adv. Ms. Saudamini Sharma, Adv. Mr. Akshay Sharma, Adv. Mr. Gudipati G. Kashyap, Adv. For Anil Mittal. Ms. Suruchi Agarwal, Adv. (C.A.) Mr. Daleep Dhyani, Adv. Mr. Pradeep Misra, Adv. Mr. Santosh Kumar, adv. Mr. Sanjeev Arora, Adv. Mr. Mushtaq Ahmad, Adv. Dr. Sumant Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Mridula Ray Bharadwaj, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Kailash Sharma, Adv. Ms. Rinchen Wangmo, Adv. Mr. Vendant Bharadwaj, Adv. Ms. Pallavi Pratap, Adv. Mr. Sumit Saurav, Adv. For applicant Mr. Shyam Divan, Sr. Adv. Mr. Jatin Pore, Adv. M/s. DSK Legal, Advs. AOR Ms. Meenakshi Arora, Sr. Adv. Ms. Misha Rohatgi Mohta, AOR Mr. Harin P. Rawal, Sr.Adv. Ms. Vandana Pai, Adv. Mr. Aditya, Adv. Mr. Anurag Tandon, Adv. Ms. Sonam Gupta, AOR Ms. Divya Anand, Adv. Mr. Smarhar Singh, AOR Mr. Binay Kumar, Adv. Mr. Ashutosh Thakur, Adv. Mr. Jairaj Mudgal, Adv. Mr. Riddhi Bose, Adv. Mr. Raj Kishore Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Tahir Ashraf Siddiqui, Adv. Mr. D.P. Singh, Adv. Mr. Anurag Tondon, Adv. Ms. Sonam Gupta, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu Bhandari, Adv. Mr. Rajiv Kumar Virmani, Adv. Mr. Navin Kumar, AOR Mr. Prashant Kumar, Adv. Mr. Aniruddh Singh, Adv. Mr. Joseph Pookkatt, Adv. Mr. Ankit Dwivedi, Adv. Ms. Charu Ambwani, Adv. Mr. Kaushal Yadav, Adv. Mr. Pramod Kumar, Adv. Mr. Nandlal Kumar Mishra, Adv. Dr. Ajay Kumar, Adv. Ms. Sunita Yadav, Adv. Ms. Sweta Yadav, Adv. Mr. Chandan Kumar, AOR Mr. Rituraj Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Alok Kumar, Adv. Mr. R.D. Upadhyay, AOR Mr. A.K. Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Prashant Singh, Adv. Ms. Amita Singh, Adv. Mr. Atin Mehta, Adv. Mr. Deepak Mishra, Adv. Mr. Atishi Dipankar, Adv. Mr. Sahil Sethi, Adv. Mr. Shivam Sharma, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Manchanda, Adv. Ms. Astha Sharma, Adv. Ms. Prerna Mehta, Adv. Mr. Rohit Singh, Adv. Ms. Praveena Gautam, Adv. Mr. Jitesh P. Gupta, Adv. Mr. Pawan Shukla, Adv. Mr. Raja Ram, Adv. Mr. Sahil Sethi, Adv. Mr. Shivam Sharma, Adv. Ms. Aastha, Adv. Mr. S.B. Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Param Kumar Mishra, Adv. Mr. Krishnan Mishra, Adv. Mr. Shashank Singh, Adv. Mr. Nishant, Adv. Ms. Shobha Gupta, Adv, Mr. Pritesh Kumar, Adv. Mr. Rakesh Khanna, Sr. Adv. Ms. Drishti Rathore, Adv. Dr. Rashmi Khanna, Adv. Mr. Mohit Nagar, Adv. Ms. Aarohi Holoni, Adv. Ms. S. Basu Malik, Adv. Mr. Kumar Mihir, Adv. Mr. Krishnam Mishra, Adv. Mr. Param K. Mishra, Adv. Mr. Shashan K. Singh, Adv. Ms. Anisha Upadhyay, Adv. Mr. Amit Kumar, Adv. Mr. Sahurya Sahay, Adv. Mr. Avijit Mani Tripathi, Adv. Mr. Kumar Abhishek, Adv. Mr. Mithilesh Kumar Pandey, Adv. Mr. Ajit SHARMAN, Adv. Mr. Atul Pandey, Adv.
For the Respondent: Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, AOR Mr. Utkarsh Jaiswal, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Singh, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Raj, Adv. Ms. Paras Choudhary, Adv. Mr. Vishal Gupta, Adv. AOR Mr. Sumit Sinha, AOR Mr. Sinha Shrey Nikhilesh, Adv. Mr. Swastik Verma, Adv. Mr. Somiran Sharma, Adv. Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Ms. Rajee Mehrotra, Adv. Mr. Ravindra Kumar, AOR Mr. Achyut Saxena, Adv. Mr. Ajay Kumar Jain, Adv. Mr. Rabin Majumder, AOR Ms. Srishti Kapoor, Adv. Ms. Ashwarya Sinha, Adv. Ms. Saloni T. J., Adv. Ms. Pratishtha Dobhal, Adv. Mr. Dhruv Mehta, Sr. Adv. Mr. Alok K. Agarwal, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Harshal Kumar, Adv. Ms. Shuchi Seywar, Adv. Ms. Arpita Dixit, Adv. Mr Manoj Kumar, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Goel, Adv. AOR Ms. Vandana Sehgal, Adv. Mr. Rohan Thawani, Adv. Mr. Hardeep Singh Anand, Adv. Mr. Aanad Daga, Adv. Ms. Gunjan Ahuja, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Sharma, Adv. Mr. Manoj Singh, Adv. Mr. Anurag Kishore, Adv. Mr. Anurag Sharma, Adv. Mr. Gyan Mittal, Adv. Mr. Sharad Agarwal, Adv. Dr. Shashwat bajpai, Adv. For Galaxy Group Intervenor Mr. Rohit Sthalekar, Adv. Mr. Chandra Prakash, adv. M/s. DSK Legal Mr. Amit Goel, Adv. Dr. Ashwani Bhardwaj, AOR Mr. Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, AOR Mr. Brahma Kumar Pathak, Adv. Mr. Maninder Singh, ASG Mr. Bishwajit Dubey, Adv. Ms. Srideepa Bhattaacharyya, Adv. Mr. Aditya Marwah, Adv. Mr. Manpreet Lamba, Adv. For M/S. Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR Mr. Ashwarya Sinha, AOR Mr. P. Dobhal, Adv. Ms. Saloni Tangri Jawa, Adv. Mr. Sidharth Luthra, Sr. Adv. Mr. Kunal Mimani, Adv. Mr. Dheeraj Nair, Adv. Mr. Madhurendra Kumar, Adv. Mr. Prakash Kumar Singh, AOR Mr. PBA Srinivasa, Adv. Mr. Parth Tondon, Adv. Mr. Amand Gupta, Adv. Mr. K. Paarivendhan, Adv. Mr. Rohit Bansal, Adv. Mr. Ashish Mishra, Adv. Ms. Priyanka Das, Adv. Ms. Somiram Sharma, Adv. Ms. Divyakant Lahoti, Adv. Ms. Parikshit Ahuja, Adv. Ms. Amrita Grover, Adv. Mr. Manoj, Adv. Mr. T. Mahipal, Adv. Mr. Qamar Ali, Adv. Mr. Ritan Khare, Adv. Mr. Aditya Sharma, Adv. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Dubey, Adv. AOR Mr. Krisha Kant Dubey, Adv. Mr. Abhimanyu bhandari, Adv. Ms. Roohima Dua, Adv. Ms. Aakriti Choubey, Adv. Mr. Ejaj Maqbool, Adv. Mr. Pavan Bhushan, Adv. Mr. Sumant Bhushan, adv. Mr. Talha Abdul Rahman, Adv. Mr. Virender Goswami, Adv. Mr. Gautam Narayan, Adv. AOR Ms. Soni Singh, Adv. Mr. Shamik Saha, Adv. Mr. Sarvam Ritam Khare, Adv. Mr. Rahul Tomar, Adv. Impleading party Mr. Vishnu Sharma, AOR Mr. Sourav Roy, Adv. Ms. Anupama Sharma, Adv. Ms. Sonali Negi. Adv. Mr. Mohit Rai, Adv. Ms. Rangoli Seth, Adv. Mr. Jay Kishor Singh-in-person Mr. Amit Sibal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Manmeet Singh, Adv. Mr. S.S. Ray, Adv. Mr. A. Robin Frey, Adv. Mr. Anukrit Gupta, Adv. Ms. Geetanjali Shani, Adv. Ms. Rakhi Ray, AOR Mr. Avinash, Adv. Mr. Anugrah Robin Frey, aDv. Mr. Sohan Kumar, Adv. Mr. Varchaswa Singh, Adv. Mr. Rohitash Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Vikramjeet Banerjee, ASG Ms. V. Mohana, Sr. Adv. Mr. S.S. Shamsherry, Adv. Mr. Mukul Singh, Adv. Mr. Siddhartha Sinha, Adv. Mrs. Anil Katiyar, Adv. AOR Mr. Arvind Kumar Sharma, Adv. Mr. Mukesh Kumar Maroria, AOR Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr.Adv. Mr. Gaurav Bhatia, AOR Mr. Utkarsh Jaiswal, Adv. Mr. Abhishek Singh, Adv. Mr. Anuroop Chakravarti, Adv. Mrs. Anil Katiyar, AOR Mr. Subodh K. Pathak, Adv. Mr. Shashi Ranjan, Adv. Mr. Adil Alvi, Adv. Ms. Prinita Shekhar, Av. Mr. Pawan K. Sharma, Adv. Mr. Dharmendra Kumar Sinha, AOR Mr. Anoop Prakash Awasthi, Adv. Mr. Sukant Vikram,Adv. Mr. Anshumaan Sahni, Adv. Mr. Sumant Batra, Adv. Ms. Honey Satpal, Adv. Mr. Rajesh Kumar Gupta, Adv. AOR Mr. Mahendra Kumar, Adv. Mr. Ranjit Kumar, Sr.Adv. Mr. Alok K. Agarwal, Adv. Mr.Dhruv Mehta, Sr. Adv, Mr. Alok K. Agarwal, Adv. Ms. Rati Tandan, Adv. Mr. Apoorv Rastogi, Adv. Mr. Harshal, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Goal, Adv. Mr. Jai Kishore Singh, In person Mr. K.K. Venugopal, Sr. Adv. Mr. Alok Kumar, Adv. Ms. Somya Yadava, Adv. Mr. Amit Agnihotri, Adv. Mr. Siddhant Trivedi,Adv. Ms. Jagriti Mahajan, Adv. Ms. Bhawana Pal, Adv. Ms. Prarthna Dogra, Adv. Mr. Balaji Srinivasan, Adv. Mr. Ashish Abhijit, Adv. Mr. Kumar Mihir, Adv. Ms. Gunjan Sharma, Adv. Mr. Badri Prasad Singh, Adv. Ms. Shaila Arora, Adv. Mr. Gaurav Tyagi, Adv. Ms. Nalini Singh, Adv. Ms. Neha Choudhary, adv. Mr. Purnima Jauhari, Adv. Ms. Seema P., Adv. Mr. Prakash K., Adv. Mr. Priyadarshi Gopal, Adv. Ms. Rashmi Singh, Adv. Dr. Ashwani Bhardwaj, Adv. Mr. Amit Goel, Adv. Mr. Nitin Bajpai, Adv. Ms. Neha Tanwar, Adv. Mr. A.K. Tripathi, Adv. Md. Akaram, Adv.
Headnote:
Civil Laws – Specific Permission – Attorney General for India, submits that Corporation Bank is respondent no.8 – As claim has to be lodged before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by 30.11.2018, otherwise, it would become barred by limitation, it was fairly submitted that NCLT may be requested not to proceed further without express permission of this Court in matter to be filed – Permission to lodge claim is granted, subject to rider that NCLT shall not proceed further without specific permission of this Court – Order has not been complied with by Amrapali Group of Companies – It is stated that an affidavit has been prepared but information collected so far is not complete – Further time is prayed for to file the affidavit – Held, Court direct details of property in name of other Directors and their family members be also filed on their affidavit within a period of four days from today – Properties specified in names of all aforesaid Directors is attached in addition to property which has already been attached by this Court as per previous orders – It is also directed that let directors those who may have already filed affidavits and Directors who have to file affidavit, clearly state on oath by filing an affidavit fact that they have no interest in any other property except the property which has been mentioned in affidavit – They are also directed to disclose property held in name of their spouses and other family members, son and daughters and daughter in laws etc. – Let affidavit in detail be also filed with respect to commercial property as mentioned at page 20, as ordered, let Noida and Greater Noida Authority also to state what would be available area and their charges to be realised, if any in case- area is ordered to be sold – Let forensic audit team find out details from PAN Nos. of all directors and their family members interalia extent of assets held by them and statement of accounts for aforesaid period with respect to diversion of funds, if any – And assets in which any money has been invested or purchased out of money of the buyers and other beneficiaries of out flow of funds – Order Accordingly
ORDER :
1. Sh. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India, submits that the Corporation Bank (lead bank of consortium) is respondent no.8. As the claim has to be lodged before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) by 30.11.2018, otherwise, it would become barred by limitation, it was fairly submitted that NCLT may be requested not to proceed further without express permission of this Court in the matter to be filed. Permission to lodge claim is granted, subject to the rider that NCLT shall not proceed further without specific permission of this Court.
2. The Order dated 04.09.2018 has not been complied with by Amrapali Group of Companies. It is stated that an affidavit has been prepared but the information collected so far is not complete. Further time is prayed for to file the affidavit.
3. However, it has been pointed out by Sh.M.L.Lahoty, learned counsel that the affidavit has been filed by Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma before the Election Commission on 24.3.2014, which is taken on record, showing the value of his assets to be 847.88 crores, whereas in the affidavit that has been filed in this Court on 3.8.2018 the value of the assets has been shown to be 67.09 crores; details of which have been given in annexure B, including fixed investment, deposits, loans and advances bank balance, cash in hand and other assets. The consideration of two affidavits makes it clear that the correct facts have not been placed before this Court. How the assets depleted from 847.88 crores to 67.09 crores in the short span of four years is required to be explained threadbare by Mr. Anil Sharma.
4. In the circumstances, as correct information is not being placed before us and in view of the previous orders it is also apparent from the document on record that there is shortfall of the amount that has been deposited by the buyers of more than 2000 crores. That has been diverted elsewhere by the Amrapali Group of Companies. In the circumstances, we direct forensic audit to be made of the Amrapali Group of Companies; all the 46 companies including that of M/s. Jotindra Steel. Let forensic audit be also done of all the moveable and immovable assets of all the Directors and of their family members and relatives i.e. spouses, sons, daughters and daughter in laws etc. and of all the related companies and also where money might have flown. We appoint the following two auditors to conduct forensic Audit:
(i) Mr. Ravi Bhatia, Auditor of M/s. Bhatia and company; and
(ii)Mr. Pawan Kumar Aggarwal, Auditor of sharp and company.
5. Let forensic audit be conducted from 2008 till date and be completed within a period of two months and report be filed in this Court. Their charges shall be paid by the Amrapali Group of Companies.
6. We have also heard learned counsel for the parties with respect to the sale of the immovable property, the list of unencumbered property, mentioned at page 28 of the affidavit of Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma dated 16.05.2018, is to be sold, as stated to by Sh. Gaurav Bhatia, appearing on behalf of the Amrapali Group of Companies:
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There are certain commercial properties which have been pointed out at page 20
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7. Learned counsel appearing on behalf of Noida and Greater Noida Authorites submitted that aforesaid included the projected area which may be available for sale in future and certain charges will have to be paid by the Amrapali Group of Companies for making available additional saleable area which is in the form of open spaces.
8. Sh. M.L. Lahoty, learned counsel has also attracted our attention to the immovable properties in the name of the individual Directors; Mr. Shiv Priya, Mr. Ajay Kumar, Mr. Suvash Chandra and Mr. Amresh Kumar. However, the details of the assets of the property of Mr. Anil Kumar Sharma have not been filed. Let details of the immovable properties in the name of Mr. Anil Sharma and his family be filed within four days from today on affidavit with a copy to all the parties. Let the detailed affidavit containing info