| A minority shareholder Ricky Kirpalani and his associates have filed a petition at the Company Law Board (CLB) seeking removal of the board of Nalwa Sons Investments, a shell firm having substantial investment in the OP Jindal group. |
| Kirpalani and his associates, who have a combined holding of 13 per cent stake in Nalwa Sons, filed the petition with the principal bench of CLB about a fortnight ago. |
| They have urged the CLB to hand over the management of Nalwa Sons to an independent committee with a representation from them or to depute an administrator. |
| According to Nalwa Sons' annual report for 2004-05, the company has three subsidiaries "" Jindal Holding, Jindal Steel & Alloys and Jindal Stainless (Mauritius). |
| The value of Nalwa Sons' quoted and unquoted investment stood at nearly Rs 600 crore as on March 31, 2005. |
| The list of companies in which it has substantial investment include Jindal Saw, Jindal Iron & Steel, JSW Steel, Jindal South West Holdings, Jindal Stainless, Punjab National Bank and Shalimar Paints. |
| A P Garg, senior vice-president and company secretary of Nalwa Sons, said he was not aware of any such move by Kirpalani. |
| "We have not received any notice from he CLB. However, Kirpalani has been threatening us to take to CLB for quite some time. He has shot off some letters to the company as well, " he told Business Standard. |
| The petitioners "" Ricky, Alisha and Johnny Kirpalani "" moved the petition under Sections 397, 398, 404, 403, 235 and 250 of the Companies Act, 1956 on the grounds of mismanagement. |
| They moved the petition against Nalwa Sons and its directors who were on the board on October 31, 2005, when the company decided to issue up to 15 per cent holding under an employees stock option scheme. |
| The directors include Savitri Devi Jindal and Ratan Jindal. However, Ratan Jindal could not be contacted. Savitri Devi and Ratan Jindal later resigned from the board. |
| Gard added that Kirpalani was agitated with the proposed issue of shares under employees stock option scheme. "The resolution was adopted by the board and subsequently passed by shareholders," he said. |
| The petitioners alleged that the proposed issue of shares to employees was aimed at dilution of shareholding of minority shareholders. |
| They alleged in the petition that Nalwa Sons being a shell company, its employees had played a negligible role for the company's performance. |
Top Section
Explore Business Standard