Saturday, January 12, 2008

SC Clears Hurdles Against Reliance Power IPO

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court (SC) on Friday cleared the decks for Reliance Power's IPO. The IPO, one of India’s largest, is scheduled to hit the market on January 15.

“The IPO of Reliance Power will go on despite any interim order passed against it by any court or tribunal in the country,” ordered a three judge bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan.

The court said no order issued by any court or tribunal in the country shall come in the way of the Reliance Power’s IPO. The court passed the order on a plea by Reliance Power.

Senior counsel Harish Salve and advocate Mahesh Agrawal, on behalf of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-promoted Reliance Power, said any court or tribunal could pass an order restraining the company from coming up with its IPO.

Reliance Power, in its application, said that after petitions in the Gujarat High Court, a suit has been filed in a civil court in Mumbai. Petitions may have been filed in other courts which may pass an order against the scheduled IPOs, Reliance Power said.

The objections against the offer were raised before the Securities Appellate Tribunal (SAT), which had heard the matter and fixed January 14 for the final hearing, said Mr Agrawal in seeking direction of the apex court to clear all legal hurdles in the matter.

On January 9, the apex court had stayed the proceedings in the Gujarat High Court against Reliance Power’s IPO. The court passed the order on a plea by Reliance Power and Reliance Energy. The court had also issued notice to the petitioner in the high court, a Rajkot-based NGO Grahak Suraksha Mandal.

The company, in its petition, said that the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) after considering the objections on December 27 had permitted it to issue IPO. Thereafter, the objections were raised before the SAT.

While the matter is pending before SAT, the Rajkot Mandal and another party have filed two petitions under the guise of PIL seeking stay on it IPO, alleged Reliance Power. It said the Gujarat HC has no jurisdiction to entertain a petition in relation to the public issue.

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