SC Slaps 1 Cr Fine On Deepak Chhabria; Withholds Action Against NCLAT Judges In Finolex Cables Case

The Supreme Court decided to not pursue additional sanctions against the two members of the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) who had disobeyed the ruling of the highest court in the Finolex Cables succession case. The SC decision came on 30 October.

This happened when judicial member Alok Srivastava issued an unequivocal apology for disobeying the apex court's orders, and judicial member Rakesh Kumar resigned from the tribunal, according to a Mint report.

Chief Justice DY Chandrachud led a three-judge panel that observed that both members knowingly disobeyed the court's direction. After examining the CCTV tape from the 13 October NCLAT proceeding in court, this conclusion was reached.

Lawyers from both sides briefed the tribunal bench during this NCLAT session regarding the Supreme Court's directive to hold off on issuing any orders until the AGM results are out. The NCLAT bench still disregarded the Supreme Court's orders and continued.

The court also determined that the company's scrutinizer was accountable for violating the court order by hiding the AGM results, citing legal counsel provided by Deepak Chhabria, the former executive chairman of Finolex Cables. As a result, Chhabria was fined Rs 1 crore by the court, who also gave him two weeks to deposit the money in the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund. Within the same time frame, the scrutinizer is also required to deposit Rs 10 lakh into the fund.

The court finalized this case by stressing that it should be an example for all tribunals and courts, claiming that none should go against the orders of the Supreme Court in the future.