The Company Law Board on Friday ordered Telenor's mobile phone joint venture in the country not to proceed with a planned auction of its assets until its next hearing, after the Norwegian mobile carrier's minority partner Unitech Ltd sought to stop the sale.
The Company Law Board, a quasi-judicial body, is due to hear the case again on August 8.
In an auction notice on Wednesday, the joint venture, which operates under the Uninor brand, invited potential bidders to express interest by August 6 and said its majority owner, Norway's Telenor, was willing to bid in the auction.
Norway's Telenor and property company Unitech have been at loggerheads after Uninor's operating permits were ordered to be revoked by India's Supreme Court, which ruled all permits awarded in a scandal-tainted 2008 sale be quashed in September.
Telenor has blamed Unitech for losing the current licences and is seeking to scrap the joint venture. It has said it would either leave India or buy out Unitech and migrate the business to a new entity to buy fresh permits under a new round of licensing.
Unitech has contested Telenor's moves and has said it has veto rights to block any asset transfer.
