Supreme Court helps Nagarjuna Finance Ltd depositor

Hyderabad: The Supreme Court has come to the rescue of a depositor of Nagarjuna Finance Ltd, by holding that K.S. Raju, promoter-director of the company, had willfully disobeyed court orders and had to repay the deposit.

The apex court was allowing an appeal by Edupuga-nti Bapanaiah of Kolluru village in Guntur district challenging an order of the division bench of the AP High Court which had set aside an order of the single judge sentencing Mr Raju to six months of civil impr-isonment and imposing a fine of Rs 2,000 for willfully disobeying the court order.

While restoring the sentence, the court granted 60 days to Mr Raju to repay Rs 40 lakh to the depositor. If the payment is not made, he shall be taken into custody to serve out the sentence.

In 2001, Mr Bapanaiah had filed a contempt petition in the AP High Court alleging that Raju had willfully disobeyed the undertaking given before the Company Law Board (CLB) that he would repay the deposit amount.

A single judge allowed the contempt case after which Mr Raju moved the appeal before the bench contending that he had resigned as promoter-director of NFL and that he was in no way responsible for the payment. The bench allowed the plea and set aside the conviction. Mr Bapanaiah then moved the apex court.

A two-member bench co-mprising Justice Vikra-majit Sen and Justice Pra-fulla C. Pant found that Mr Raju had given undertaking on February 14, 2000, to the CLB and that he submitted his resignation as promoter-director in September 2000, which clearly reflected that it was done in order to save himself and his company from making the repayment directed by the CLB.

PIL urges review of Kakinada SEZ

The Struggle Committee against the Kakinada SEZ has moved the Hyderabad HC seeking a direction to the Centre to reexamine the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) project in Kakinada.

The committee represented by secretary I. Suryanarayana moved a PIL stating that except for acquisition of agricultural lands, no developments has taken place at the SEZ.

He brought to the notice of the court that about 10,421 acres in Thondangi mandal was acquired between 2007 and 2013 by the government for the SEZ and the project was handed over to the Kakinada SEZ and Kakinada Sea Ports.

The petitioner urged the court to declare the SEZ in Kakinada and the allowing of companies to raise loans through banks as illegal and arbitrary.