NCLT asks Ashneer Grover to prove maintainability of his plea filed in BharatPe case

Ex BharatPe founder and managing director, Ashneer Grover has been asked by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to establish maintainability of his petition filed with the latter, seeking relief from actions taken by BharatPe against him and his wife Madhuri Jain, the fintech’s former head of controls.

The tribunal, on December 6 heard arguments on the issue of how much stake Grover holds in the company. Giriraj Subramanium, Grover’s lawyer stated that compulsory coverable preference shares (CCPS) issued to investors of the fintech are in no way equivalent to equity shares.

Grover filed his case with the NCLT in January this year, asking the tribunal to look into and declare the actions of the management of BharatPe, led by Rajnish Kumar as not being in the company’s best interests. Grover also asked that his wife’s termination of employment be revoked.

Subramanium further argued that Grover could seek relief under Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act 2013, considering the fact that he holds over 40 percent equity shares in the company. He also added that other investors of BharatPe, who hold CCPS, hadn’t converted them into equity shares.

The tribunal has asked that Grover prove this by producing existing judgements that indicate if preference shares are not to be treated as equity shares when accounting for shareholding in a company. If failed to produce, the tribunal will dismiss Grover’s petition entirely.