Franklin Templeton moves Supreme Court to vacate stay on e-voting

The petitioner withdrew the case after FT MF counsels informed that they would be filing a special leave petition challenging the Gujarat High Court judgment

Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund (MF) on Friday appealed to the Supreme Court (SC) to hear the fund house’s plea to vacate stay on the unitholders’ e-voting, which came into force following the Gujarat High Court’s (HC’s) order during the week.

The petitioner withdrew the case as Franklin’s counsels informed that they would be filing a special leave petition challenging the Gujarat HC’s judgment.

“With reference to the status of the writ petition filed before the SC against Union of India, Sebi, Franklin etc, we wish to confirm that the matter was dismissed as withdrawn when it was taken up by the court today,” a spokesperson for the fund housesaid. “Apropos the interim stay order on the unitholders meeting issued by the Gujarat HC, Franklin Templeton has filed an appeal before the SC and the matter is sub judice,” the spokesperson added.

As the matter is being heard in multiple high courts, the fund house has sought it to be heard in a single court through a transfer petition subject to court’s approval. On Monday, the Gujarat HC gave ad-interim relief to petitioners by way of stay on the e-voting process, that was to be held the next day.

The e-voting process would have given the unitholders of Franklin’s schemes under wind-up, options on how they wish to take forward the wind-up and scheme asset monetisation process.

In recent days, petitions in Delhi HC and Madras HC have also been filed on FT MF’s wind-up move. Industry sources suggest the fund house would have to bear the expenses related to the legal proceedings, which may last over the next few weeks.