Hyderabad High Court rejects Essel-Zee plea for more time in Agri Gold case
Mr. P. Sri Raghuram old the court that there was a huge gap between the assets and liabilities of the Agri Gold Companies.
Hyderabad: In a surprise move, in the Agri Gold Group of Companies row with the Essel-Zee Group’s Subhash Chandra Foundation which had come forward to take over Agri Gold, on Monday informed the Hyderabad High Court that Rajya Sabha member Mr Amar Singh would negotiate with the AP government to jointly take over the properties of Agri Gold Group of Companies. A division bench comprising of Justice V. Ramasubramanian and Justice S. V. Bhatt, refused the request put forward by the Foundation to grant time to jointly take over the properties of Agri Gold Group of Companies through the mediation of Rajya Sabha member Mr Amar Singh.
While dealing with the PIL by the depositors and agents seeking a CBI probe into the Agri Gold Companies' fraud, the bench made it clear that the court will not have any concern with the persons behind the curtain in this issue and the court will not have an objection if the state government comes forward for the take over. Mr. P. Sri Raghuram, senior counsel appearing for the Essel Group, told the court that there was a huge gap between the assets and liabilities of the Agri Gold Companies and they have Rs 2,496 crores worth properties and more than Rs 10,000 crores of liabilities.
When the bench sought the response of Mr N. Arjun Kumar, counsel for the depositors, he said that they will not have any objection if the state government takes over the companies, but they had an objection regarding the joint venture. While directing Mr Krishna Prakash, counsel for the AP government, to file written statement from the government informing the court about its willingness to take over the Agri Gold Companies or not, the bench postponed the case to April 25.