JUDGMENT :

DHANANJAYA Y. CHANDRACHUD, CJI.

1. The applicant Tata Sons Pvt. Ltd. is a company incorporated under the Indian Companies Act 1913. The first respondent, Siva Industries and Holdings Ltd. is a company incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 with a registered office at Chennai. The second respondent, C. Sivasankaran, who is the promoter of the first respondent is a resident of Seychelles.

2. The applicant, the first respondent and Tata Tele Services Ltd.¹ [“TTSL”] executed a share subscription agreement on 24 February 2006 for the issuance and allotment of shares of TTSL to Siva Industries in accordance with its terms and conditions.

3. Subsequently, a share subscription agreement dated 12 November 2008 was entered into between NTT Docomo Inc² [“Docomo”] a company incorporated in Japan, the applicant and TTSL. In terms of the agreement, Docomo sought to acquire 26% of the equity share holding of TTSL through a combination of primary shares (fresh shares issued and allotted by TTSL) and secondary shares (shares held by certain existing shareholders of TTSL).

4. The first