Satyam told to wait for judgment in damages suit case

The damages claim filed by Mahindra Satyam against its former board of directors, some employees and audit firm Price Waterhouse may not be taken up by a local court immediately as it has demanded the court fee in cash, whereas the company prefers to pay it in draft or cheque.

Sources said as of now, the court has advised the company to wait for the judgement of a similar case that is pending before the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

"As per court rules, it will accept only cash as fee. However, the company argues that since the amount involved is large, it cannot pay cash due to accounting problems. Now the court has advised Mahindra Satyam to wait for the judgement in a similar case in the higher court," a source close to the development said.

The company has to pay 1% of the total damages claimed in the petition as court fee.

Sources said Mahindra Satyam, which has claimed around Rs 250 crore as damages, would have to pay Rs 25 lakh as non-refundable court fee.

Though the final claim of the damages will run into thousands of crores, Mahindra Satyam chose to claim lesser amount in the petition as it is yet to make payments in some of the issues that the company agreed to settle.

"The court asked Mahindra Satyam not to ask for dispensation of the case as it is advisable to wait for the Andhra Pradesh High Court judgement on a similar issue," the source said.

The company has named around 123 people as defendants, including Satyam founder chairman B Ramalinga Raju, Rama Raju, V Srinivas, and former directors including Ram Mynampati and Krishna Palepu.

In January 2009, Ramalinga Raju admitted to an accounting fraud of Rs 14,000 crore at the IT firm. The government soon stepped in and set up a new board, following which Tech Mahindra bought 46% stake in Satyam through a formal public auction process.

The company was later rechristened as Mahindra Satyam in July.