Industrialist Anil Ambani on October 28 withdrew his writ petition from the Bombay High Court against a show-cause notice issued to him by IDBI Bank [Anil Ambani Vs IDBI Bank].

This was after the Court indicated it was not inclined to grant interim relief.

The petition, heard by Justice Sandesh Patil during the vacation sitting, sought to restrain IDBI Bank from proceeding with a personal hearing scheduled for October 30 until Ambani is furnished with all relevant material and given a fair opportunity to respond.

After hearing both sides, the Court noted that it was not inclined to pass any ad-interim order.

Ambani then withdrew the plea and agreed to appear before IDBI Bank “under protest.”

The Court permitted the withdrawal, granting liberty to Ambani to raise all his contentions before the bank and, if aggrieved by any adverse order, to approach the appropriate forum.

Justice Patil clarified that the Court was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the matter

The notice stemmed from IDBI Bank’s move under the Reserve Bank of India’s Master Directions on Fraud Risk Management in Commercial Banks, which governs the procedure for classifying loan accounts as “fraud.”

IDBI Bank’s action pertains to loans worth ₹750 crore extended to Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCom), which is undergoing insolvency proceedings. The bank’s case is that RCom’s account along with related exposures should be classified as “fraud” on account of alleged diversion or misuse of funds and violation of loan covenants.

As promoter and guarantor of RCom, Ambani was issued the show-cause notice and called for a personal hearing.

His plea before the High Court sought deferment of the hearing, arguing that the bank had not shared the complete forensic audit report and annexures which formed the basis of its allegations.

Ambani was represented by advocates Ankit Lohia, Ameet Naik, Abhishek Kale, Komal Joshi, Vivek Dwivedi, Devashish Jagirdar and Ronit Doshi from Naik Naik & Co.

IDBI Bank was represented by Senior Advocate Zarir Bharucha along with advocates Dhwani Gala and Rishi Thakur.

Earlier this month, the Bombay High Court dismissed his plea against  State Bank of India’s (SBI) decision declaring his loan accounts as “fraud.” The Court rejected Ambani’s arguments of procedural unfairness and upheld SBI’s action.

[Read Order]