Telenor, Unitech take JV row to Company Law Board

Norwegian telecom major Telenor and its Indian partner Unitech have approached the Company Law Board (CLB), separately, over control of their joint venture, Uninor.

The Telenor Group said in a statement that it wanted to prevent any wrongful obstruction of its effort to secure its investments in the country.

''On February 24, we have moved the CLB to prevent any wrongful obstruction of our effort to secure our investments and the welfare of Uninor's four crore customers, employees and partners. We are not able to comment any further since this matter is now sub-judice,'' Telenor said in a statement.

Unitech, on the other hand, said it wanted to prevent the Norwegian firm from "assuming full control over the business, including assets of Uninor".

Unitech said it "will continue to resist any mala-fide and/or unilateral action by Telenor".

"Telenor is trying to rescind the shareholders' agreement and annul the articles of Uninor only to get out of certain protective provisions for the minority shareholders including the non-compete provision," Unitech alleged.

''In fact, even prior to the Supreme Court's order on striking down the policy of the government with respect to the grant of UAS licences to telecom companies, Telenor has been pursuing the sole objective of pushing Unitech out of Uninor and assuming complete control over Uninor in abrogation of all the rights of Unitech under the Articles of Uninor,'' Unitech alleged.

The Company Law Board (CLB) is an independent quasi-judicial body, exercising equitable jurisdiction, which was earlier being exercised by the High Court or the central government. The CLB has powers to regulate its own procedures and prescribe procedure for filing applications/petitions before it.