JUDGMENT

SURESH KUMAR KAIT, J

1. The petitioner-organisation, claims to be a registered organization, working to provide a platform to whistleblowers across the country and to take up litigation on their behalf in order to provide them anonymity and to instill in them the necessary confidence to make disclosures without fear, arrange for their objective and impartial investigation and help to take such cases to their logical conclusions in a time bound manner.

2. The petitioner has filed the instant writ petition under Article 226 of the Constitution of India seeking direction for an in-depth, thorough and time bound investigation by a SIT into various serious illegalities, violations and siphoning of funds committed by the promoters of Indiabulls Housing Finance Limited (IBHFL), its subsidiaries and their promoters. The petitioner has further sought directions to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Registrar of Companies (ROC), Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO), National Housing Bank (NHB), Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to take action against IBHFL and its promoters/owners, who through its promoters, subsidiary companies and various group of companies, has been advancing dubious loans to companies owned by large corporate groups which in turn have been routing the money back to the accounts of companies owned by the promoters of Indiabulls, so as to increase their personal wealth.

3. The petitioner alleged that the aforesaid activities of respondent No.7- India Bulls Housing Finance Ltd. and its promoters are in violation of various Statutes and Polices relating to Companies Act, 2013, Rules and Regulations of Reserve Bank of India (RBI), SEBI, National Housing Bank and other laws.

4. The petitioner further alleged that the respondent No.7 and the companies owned by its promoters have been involved in round tripping of funds in violation of the relevant laws and policy guidelines and they have also not disclosed sources thereof and their books of account also do not show the true state of affairs. However, the authorities concerned have failed to do any investigation into these allegations/reports and take required action against them, which poses serious risk and threat to the public interest.

5. The petitioner has also alleged that the respondent - IBHFL group, and the group of companies owned by it i.e. India Bulls Real Estate, Indiabulls Commercial Credit, Indiabulls Ventures, Indiabulls Infra &Power and scores of other privately held companies, with their ownership divided between the partners, has a net worth of over Rs.75,838/- crores, as per its website.

6. According to the petitioner, the IBHFL group of companies has 220 branches in 100 cities across India, which is regulated by the National Housing Bank (NHB). IBHFL contributes 80% of the Indiabulls group‟s turnover and in the fiscal year 2017-18, it had disbursed loans totaling to a sum of Rs.1,22,578/-.

7. The petitioner has further alleged that IBHFL has extended huge loans to various companies and these companies in turn are routing a substantial part of the money back as investment in equities to companies apparently belonging to the key-shareholders/promoters of IBHFL including Sameer Gehlaut, the founder and Chairman of IBHFL and his family members and thereby, the borrowing companies bestow huge benefits to the key shareholders and Chairman of IBHFL for the favour they get in the form of loans from IBHFL.

8. The petitioner also alleged that a substantial part of the money loaned by IBHFL to various companies has been invested/ploughed back into companies owned by promoters/owners of Indiabulls, either directly or indirectly through subsidiaries. The intent of all these methods is to create private wealth out of public money. The manner in which Indiabull group of companies is manipulating the funds, has been narrated by the petitioner, which is as under:

a. By investing in Preference Shares of IB group subsidiaries