HC puts off Yes Bank case to July 29, lets Kapur amend plea

Bombay High Court today allowed Madhu Kapur to file an amended petition that seeks to revoke the appointment of three new whole-time directors and questions the modalities by which Yes bank appointed three other directors recently.
The Court posted the matter for final hearing to July 29.
On Madhu's request for direction from the court to the bank to share the minutes of the June 8 annual general meeting as well as the video recordings of the same, the High Court, without giving any direction on the plea, asked the petitioner to write to the bank today itself and also asked the bank to reply by tomorrow.

"You write a letter. If they refuse inspection and the court later during arguments finds that the refusal was wrong then we will pass adverse order," Justice S J Kathawala said.
The petition alleged that the business at the bank's annual general meeting held on June 8 was not conducted properly, saying the minutes did not have important details like the number of shareholders and the proxies present or why S L Kapur, who is neither a shareholder nor a director, was allowed to speak at the AGM.
Therefore, the petitioner sought to access the video recording of the AGM to ascertain facts.

Senior counsel Darius Khambata, appearing for Madhu and her daughter Shagun Kapur Gogia, said the bank should be directed to maintain status quo pending hearing of Madhu's petition.

Yes Bank counsel Iqbal Chagla objected to this and said the pendency of the petition is already creating serious problems for the bank.
However, Justice Kathawala did not pass any direction on this and posted the matter for final hearing on July 29.
The HC also allowed the chamber summons removed by Madhu seeking amendments to be made in her petition and posted the matter for final hearing on July 29.
Madhu Kapur, the wife of the bank's co-founder Ashok Kapur, who got killed in the November 2008 terror attacks on the city, had approached the High Court on June 6 seeking a stay on the appointment of Srinivasan, Nanda and Chopra as the directors appointed by the promoters.

According to the revised petition of the Kapurs, a copy of which was seen by PTI, the Kapurs alleged lack of corporate governance at the bank, and also sought a slew of directions to protect their interests, including revoking appointments of three new whole-time directors.