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2022 (9) TMI 1292 - SC - Indian LawsEnforcement of Foreign Arbitral Award - contempt of the order of court or not - acts of commission or omission on part of Contemnor Nos.9 and 10 and the entities controlled by them - control on assets of entity - banks and financial institutions sold the shares which were pledged with them, purely as a matter of commercial expediency or whether there was any deliberate act of defiance to defeat the rigour and width of the orders passed by the High Court and this Court ? - deliberate attempt to defeat the processes of Court or not - Whether the acts of commission or omission on part of Contemnor Nos.9 and 10 and the entities controlled by them, were calculated to put the assets of the companies under their control beyond the reach of Daiichi? - Having given clear assurances to the High Court and this Court, whether such acts of commission and omission on part of Contemnor Nos.9 and 10 amount to contempt of the orders passed by the High Court and this Court? HELD THAT:- On these two questions raised hereinabove need no further elaboration as the conduct of contemnor Nos.9 and 10 was considered and they were held guilty of having committed contempt of the orders passed by the High Court and this Court. While holding them guilty, by its judgment and order dated 15.11.2019 this Court had given them an opportunity to purge themselves of contempt. Therefore, insofar as the role played by Contemnor Nos.9 and 10 is concerned, the matter rests in a narrow compass i.e., whether they have purged themselves of contempt or not? The kind of assets that have been offered by said Contemnor Nos.9 and 10 in their affidavit are so inadequate that it is impossible to satisfy the amount awarded in favour of Daiichi in the foreign arbitral award - there are no alternative but to hold that said Contemnor Nos.9 and 10 have failed to purge themselves of contempt. As a matter of fact, there is no genuine attempt on their part. The question then comes up is about the quantum of sentence. Considering the enormity of their actions, in our view, the maximum sentence that can be awarded, must be imposed. Role played by the noticee banks and financial institutions - HELD THAT:- With the assistance of the learned counsel appearing for the parties we made an attempt to go through the documents placed on record but find ourselves unable to come to a definite conclusion whether there were antecedent arrangements which enabled said banks and financial institutions to keep attaching the shares and keep on converting large quantity of shares from the compartment of “unencumbered shares” to that of “encumbered shares” and thereafter keep disposing of said shares. Contemnor Nos. 9 and 10 are sentenced to suffer six months imprisonment and pay fine in the sum of Rs.5,000/- each within four weeks from today. In case of default of payment of fine, the contemnors shall undergo further imprisonment of two months - Applications disposed off.
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