Clb Allows Ril To Compound Offences

CLB member C R Mehta ordered the compounding of offences on the condition that the court grants permission for compounding of offences and payment of Rs 24,20,000 as compounding fee.

The court hearing is set for today before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate A M Thipsay. The fee to be paid in relation to the company offences includes Rs 10 lakh each by Reliance Industries and Reliance Consultancy Services (RCS).

The CLB has also ordered compounding of offences against defaulting company officers, subject to the court approval. The fees to be paid for these offences are Rs 1 lakh each by RIL chairman Dhirubhai Ambani and directors, Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani and Nikhil Meswani. The CLB has also ordered a payment of Rs 10,000 each by RIL officials Vinod Ambani (company secretary) and Rohit Shah (RCS joint vice-president).

 

The compounding fee structure is similar to that in the previous 26 cases. However, if the court does not agree with the compounding of offences relating to the officers in default, the compounding of offences against the company would stand cancelled.

Mehta declined to state the reasons for the compounding, but cited conditions which the company placed before the CLB. According to the Reliance counsel J J Bhatt, these include:

The offences were inadvertent in nature;

pressures of work were too high on the registrar/company during that period; no gain has accrued to the accused through these offences;

the shares concerned have been declared as bad delivery by the BSE, and are not in circulation and cannot be traded; and

no further loss can occur to any party.

The RoC, represented by R Vasudevan, said that the offences took place in preference to the claims and rights of the original holders. Further, no lodger has made any complaints, the RoC said. The registrar added that this was the first time offences under section 84(3) had come up before them.

The CLB also ruled that the fees for compounding would have to be paid within 15 days of the court permission for such compounding. If the payment is not made, the RoC can, under the law, take necessary action against the accused, wherein proceedings would continue against RIL. The RoC had filed 29 complaints on July 12 before the additional chief metropolitan magistrate against RIL for offences under section 84 (2), (3) and (4), 108 and 113 of the Companies Act.