A Supreme Court bench today declined to hear a petition filed by minority shareholders of the Bank of Rajasthan, opposing the proposed merger of the troubled Udaipur-based lender with ICICI Bank.
The bench, comprising Justices B S Chauhan and Swatanter Kumar, asked petitioner Ram Prasad Somani, who is opposing the proposed merger of BoR with ICICI Bank, to approach any other regular bench of the apex court.
The minority shareholders are not disclosing their shares, the bench said while refusing to hear the petition.
This is the second SC bench to have declined to hear the case. On May 31, a two-judge vacation bench had refused to hear a petition filed by Somani -- stating that he should approach some other bench.
On May 23, ICICI Bank had agreed to take over BoR through a share-swap deal that values the troubled bank at about Rs 3,000 crore.
In his petition, Somani contended that as the shares owned by the PK Tayal family and his group companies are under judicial scrutiny, they cannot enter into a merger scheme with ICICI Bank.
According to the petitioner, the Tayals had acquired over 15 per cent share in BoR without complying with a Sebi regulation that mandates a public announcement after crossing the limit.
Following that, Sebi ordered a probe into the allegations and, in March, banned the Tayals and their associated entities from dealing in stock markets until further orders.
Somani had, in 2009, approached the apex court against the Tayals increasing their stake in BoR.