SC upholds NCLAT order on winding up of Devas Multimedia

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IANS) In a setback to Devas Multimedia, the Supreme Court on Monday upheld the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT), which in September last year dismissed a petition filed by Devas Multimedia against the order of the NCLT to wind up the company.

The NCLT's direction had come on a petition filed by Antrix Corporation, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). Devas has been fighting a decade-long legal battle against Antrix.

Today, a bench comprising Justices Hemant Gupta and V. Ramasubramanian dismissed the plea filed by Devas challenging the NCLAT order. The detailed judgment will be uploaded on the top court's website later in the day.

The Bengaluru bench of NCLT, on May 25 last year, directed winding up of Devas Multimedia and appointed a provisional liquidator for the purpose. The NCLAT upheld this order saying that it has come to a conclusion that the company's appeal is not maintainable in law. The NCLAT further added that the agreement by Devas with Antrix was "through fraud, misrepresentation or suppression".

The NCLT had noted that Devas was incorporated with a fraudulent motive to collude with the then officials of Antrix Corporation to get bandwidth from it by entering into an agreement in 2005. The Central government later cancelled the agreement. Devas Multimedia was incorporated on December 17, 2004.