Gujarat HC stays Franklin Templeton MF's voting process following plea

According to experts, this move could delay the wind-up process of monetising the scheme assets and distributing the payouts to investors

The Gujarat High Court (HC) stayed unitholders’ voting for winding up of six debt schemes by Franklin Temp-leton MF (FT MF), following a plea by Areez Pirozsha Khambatta, who is part of the business family that runs the popular Rasna juice brand.

The senior counsel appearing for the petitioner along with Khambatta Trust contended that FT MF had not followed regulations in the wind-up process.

“Attention of the court was invited to sub-clause 15(c) of regulation-18 of the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations … to bring out the point that when majority of the trustees decide to wind up or prematurely redeem the