NCLAT directs McDonald’s India, Vikram Bakshi to put settlement agreement on hold

Observing that the settlement agreement reached between McDonald’s India and Vikram Bakshi was prima facie against the order passed by the Debts Recovery Tribunal, the NCLAT has directed the parties to put it on hold..The Appellate Tribunal has also directed Bakshi to not leave the country without intimation..“..As the parties have reached an agreement, which has not been approved by this Appellant Tribunal and is prima facie against the order of the Debts Recovery Tribunal, we are of the view that the parties should not implement such agreement and not leave this country without intimating the Debts Recovery Tribunal or this Appellate Tribunal.”, the order reads..The order was passed by a two-member Bench of the Appellate Tribunal headed by Chairperson Justice SJ Mukhopadhyay..Before the Appellate Tribunal, while McDonald’s is seeking to withdraw its appeal against the reinstatement of Vikram Bakshi as the Managing Director of their joint venture Connaught Plaza Restaurant Ltd (CPRL) in light of the settlement between them, HUDCO is seeking a bite of around Rs. 190 crore from the settlement amount payable to Vikram Bakshi by McDonald’s..It is HUDCO’s contention that the settlement is in the teeth of an order passed by the DRT on February 2, 2016. This order had restrained Bakshi from transferring or creating any third-party interests in the shares held by him in CPRL..Before the Appellate Tribunal could decide on allowing McDonald to withdraw the appeal, a final opportunity was given to Bakshi and HUDCO to reach an amicable settlement. The same, however, did not yield any result..In view of the above, the Appellate Tribunal thus decided to hear Mcdonald’s India as well as Bakshi on merit in order to ascertain if the settlement agreement between the two was legal or not..While directing Bakshi and other parties in the agreement to not leave the country without intimation and also putting the settlement on hold, the Appellate Tribunal listed the matter for further hearing on November 19..It has also clarified that the pendency of the appeal or the interim order would not come in the way of the Debts Recovery Tribunal to modify its order if it deems fit to do so..Bakshi was represented by Senior Advocate Amit Sibal with Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas Advocates Tejas Karia, Gauhar Mirza, Nishant Doshi and Aishvary Vikram..McDonald’s was represented by Senior Advocate Sudipto Sarkar with Advocates Niti Dixit, Raunaq B. Mathur, Sumit Chopra, Shivam Kumar Raheja, Surya Veer Berry, Zahra Aziz and Pranav V Kamnan..HUDCO was represented by Solicitor General Tushar Mehta with Advocates Rohit Sharma, Atul Agarwal, Rounak Nayak and Anshul Chowdhary..Read the Order: