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SC holds Anil Ambani guilty of contempt, give month to pay dues to Ericsson or face jail

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[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Reliance Communications (RCom) chairman Anil Ambani and two directors in his company were today (Wednesday, Feb 20) held guilty of contempt by the Supreme Court for failing to pay Rs 550 crore dues owed to Swedish telecom giant Ericsson despite court orders and their undertaking to the court.

A bench of justices RF Nariman and Vineet Saran asked Ambani and the two directors to pay Rs 453 crore to Ericsson within four weeks, failing which they would face three months’ jail term.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 1 crore each on them and if the amount is not deposited within a month, then 1-month jail will be awarded. The other two directors are Reliance Telecom chairman Satish Seth and Reliance Infratel chairperson Chhaya Virani.

It directed that Rs 118 crore already deposited by Reliance Group in the apex court’s registry be disbursed to Ericsson within a week.

The Court further held that the unconditional apology given by Reliance cannot be accepted, in light of its cavalier attitude towards the highest Court of the land.

RCom shares price dropped as much as 9.2 per cent to Rs 5.45 after the court order.

The court had reserved its judgment last week after hearing the two sides, during which senior advocate Dushyant Dave, representing Ericsson India in the case, had invoked the Rafale deal to target Ambani.

“They have money for Rafale. Somebody who is getting involved in every conceivable project has no money to pay Rs 550 crore to us and honour this Court’s order,” he told the bench. This was opposed vehemently by senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Anil Ambani

“To say that Anil Ambani gave a personal undertaking and that it was unconditional is a travesty of justice … It was conditional,” Rohatgi said. Rohatgi told the bench that the sale which was expected to net Rs 18,100 crore brought in only Rs 780 crore.

Dave submitted that this money from the sale was given to the Department of Telecommunications instead of Ericsson. Rohatgi replied that lenders had done this to keep the telecom licence alive as without that, there would be nothing.

He told the top court that with the failure of its assets sale deal with elder brother Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio, Anil Ambani’s company has entered insolvency proceedings and is not in control of the funds.

RCom had told the court they had tried to move “heaven and earth” to ensure Ericsson gets its due but was unable to do so due to failure of assets sale deal with Jio.

However, the Supreme Court Bench slammed Ambani for his “cavalier attitude” and “wilful disobedience” of the court’s earlier orders to pay the dues Reliance Communication owed to Swedish telecom Ericsson company.

The court said it wasn’t sending Ambani to jail straight away, despite finding him guilty of contempt and willful disobedience of its orders because the bench felt that “the contempt can be purged by clearing the payments with interest.”

CJI Gogoi sacks two SC officials for changing order on contempt case against Anil Ambani

The Bench dismissed their “unconditional apology” for disobeying the orders of the highest court of the country.

“RCom had no intention to abide with the undertakings… Undertakings were false to the knowledge of the RCom and group companies. This amounts to contempt of court,” Justice Nariman said while reading out the judgment.

The contempt petition was filed by Ericsson, contending that Reliance had committed gross contempt by disobeying orders of the Supreme Court, which had directed it to pay Rs. 550 crores to Ericsson towards settlement of dues.

On August 3, the Supreme Court had ordered that the payment of Rs. 550 crore be made on or before September 30.

Subsequently, Reliance sought an extension of time for making the payment, which was allowed by the Supreme Court. On October 23, the Court said that as a “last opportunity”, it will allow Reliance to make the payment along with interest before December 15, 2018.

Before the expiry of the said date, Reliance once again filed an application for extension of the deadline, but the same was withdrawn on December 14 after it realized that the Court was not inclined to entertain the application.

Ericsson thereafter sought the initiation of contempt proceedings against Reliance Communications and Anil Ambani for violation of the Supreme Court orders of August 3 and October 23.

In the petition filed through advocate Bhargava V Desai, Ericsson had prayed that Anil Ambani, Chairperson of Reliance Communications, be detained in civil prison till the dues along with interest are cleared.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]

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Ramdev, Balkrishna publish bigger apology in newspapers after Supreme Court’s rap

In the apology published, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they unconditionally apologise in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India

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Yoga guru Ramdev and his aide Acharya Balkrishna on Wednesday published a fresh bigger apology in leading newspapers for misleading advertisements of Patanjali’s medicinal products. This time, the apology was bigger in size after the Supreme Court pulled up Patanjali’s Ramdev and Balkrishna for not prominently displaying it earlier.

In the apology published, Ramdev and Balkrishna said they unconditionally apologise in their individual capacity as well as on behalf of Patanjali Ayurved for the non-compliance or disobedience of directions/orders of the Supreme Court of India. The apology said that they earnestly apologise for the mistake made in publishing their advertisements and it is their whole-hearted commitment that such mistakes will not be made again in the future.

During a hearing of the contempt proceedings related to the misleading ads case on Tuesday, the Supreme Court had asked Ramdev and Balkrishna if the size of the apology published in newspapers by Patanjali was similar to full-page advertisements for its products.

Ramdev and Balkrishna had told the Supreme Court Justices Hima Kohli and Ahsanuddin Amanullah that they issued unqualified public apology in as many as 67 newspapers over the issue of misleading ads and they were willing to publish additional apologies for expressing their mistake. The duo said that the cost of the advertisements is Rs 10 lakh.

The Supreme Court bench asked why the apology had been published after one week, just ahead of the case hearing. Justice Kohli also asked if the size of the apology published was the same size as their advertisements? The court also ordered Patanjali to collate the ads and submit them before the Supreme Court bench.

The bench further added that the size of the apologies should not be enlarged and should be supplied it to them.  The Supreme Court bench wanted to see the actual size. The bench added that they want to see that when they issue an ad it does not mean they have to see it by a microscope.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

Rahul Gandhi clarifies on wealth survey remark, says aim is to identify injustice

Gandhi further added that everyone should look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction and said that the moment he said let’s test how much injustice has been done the BJP started saying that this is an attempt to break down the country.

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Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday took a U-turn on his wealth survey remark and said he only wanted to find out the amount of injustice the nation was facing. Rahul Gandhi was addressing Congress’s Social Justice Conference at Delhi’s Jawahar Bhawan where he clarified that he has not said Congress will take action yet. He said   that he was just saying that they will find out how much injustice has been done.

Gandhi further added that everyone should look at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reaction and said that the moment he said let’s test how much injustice has been done the BJP started saying that this is an attempt to break down the country. The former Congress chief said through the X-ray (wealth survey), the Congress will get to know the root cause of problem.

Gandhi said it is his life’s mission to ensure justice for the 90 % of the population against whom injustice has been done. He alleged Injustice is being done to 90 percent of Indians and the moment he called for checking this injustice, PM Modi and the BJP started attacking him. Gandhi further added that as soon as the INDIA Bloc will form its government the first thing that would be done is caste census.

On April 7, Rahul Gandhi said Congress, if voted to power, would conduct a financial and institutional survey to ascertain the distribution of wealth among the people in the country. Rahul Gandhi was addressing a public rally in Hyderabad after releasing the Congress’s manifesto where he said the survey will be conducted apart from a nationwide caste census that the party has promised if voted to power.

The former Congress chief also spoke about the Ram Mandir inauguration, and said, not a single Dalit, or a tribal was seen at the temple, or during the inauguration of the new Parliament building. He said 90% of the population understands this.

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2024 Lok Sabha Elections

PM Modi says Congress leaders consider themselves above Lord Ram

PM Modi slammed Congress during a rally in Chhattisgarh, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections 2024

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi slammed the Congress party for declining to attend the pran pratishtha ritual at the Ayodhya Ram temple on January 22 this year.

The prime minister said Congress leaders consider themselves above Lord Ram and denied invitation for Pran Pratishtha at Ram Temple, while speaking at a rally in Janjgir-Champa, Chhattisgarh. The PM question the people present at the rally that is it not a disrespect of Mata Shabri? Congress leaders inclination toward appeasement politics runs in their family.

For political appeasement, they won’t think twice about stealing the rights of Adivasis, the poor, and Dalits. Poor, young, and women are BJP’s top priorities, Modi said.

PM Modi criticized the Congress again during the rally for claiming that the BJP would alter the constitution.

The leaders of Congress recite the same old phrases whenever an election is about to happen, the PM said. He also said they claim that if the BJP wins power, it will renounce the constitution and abolish reservations. For how long will you continue selling lies?” he asked.

The prime minister continued saying that nobody can change the Constitution, even if Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar were to come and insist on it, it wouldn’t happen.

Those in the Congress threaten to break Modi’s head. Nobody can harm Modi as long as the mothers and sisters of this county stands by him. These mothers and sisters are Raksha Kavach, Modi remarked.

The prime minister further attacked the Congress after Viriato Fernandes, the party’s candidate for South Goa, asserted that Goa was forced to adopt the Indian Constitution.

Referring to his conversation with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Fernandes said he had told him, when Goa was liberated in the year 1961, the Indian Constitution was forced upon us.

The prime minister said, Congress candidate from Goa says Constitution was forced upon Goans; is this not an insult of Ambedkar and Constitution.

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