The Court was dealing with a petition under Section 34 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 seeking setting aside of the arbitral award of September 14, 2015 passed by the arbitral tribunal constituted by the International Chamber of Commerce allowing the claim of the respondent – Devas Multimedia Private Limited and directing Antrix to pay more than US$560 million to it.
Devas is a Bengaluru based start-up owned by Mauritian and US firms. It was stated to be established by two people, one being a former employee of ISRO, with a share capital of ₹1,00,000 to pursue digital multimedia services.
Antrix and Devas entered into an agreement by which Antrix agreed to build, operate, and launch two satellites and lease spectrum capacity on those satellites to Devas. Devas had to utilise this bandwidth to provide multimedia services across India.
However, the agreement was terminated by Antrix in 2011 due to changes in policy decisions. A legal battle between the parties ensued, in which, on September 14, 2014, the ICC rendered an award in favour of Devas.
Antrix argued that the contract from which the arbitral award arose was wholly vitiated due to acts of corruption, fraud and criminality committed by the erstwhile management of Antrix and Devas.
On a petition filed by Antrix, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) and National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) had ordered winding up of Devas on grounds of fraud. Devas challenged the NCLAT judgement before the Supreme Court which, on January 17 this year, upheld the said judgment declaring that Devas was formed for fraudulent and unlawful purposes.
Source: Barandbench
