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The Company Law Board (CLB) on Wednesday said it would hear arguments on the tenability of a plea by US fast-food giant McDonald’s to refer a dispute with its Indian partner, Vikram Bakshi, to the London Court of International Arbitration, again on December 20.
On Wednesday, Bakshi’s lawyer again said McDonald’s had violated the board’s interim order by referring arbitration in the dispute to the London court. He added McDonald’s had been trying to force Bakshi to sell his stake in the joint venture at a lower value. However, McDonald’s lawyers have said the start of any legal proceedings could not be restrained by any court. Earlier on Monday, the lawyers of McDonald’s told the board the company could seek a reference for arbitration as the law in question didn’t prohibit this even if an appeal in the case was pending in another court.
McDonald’s had sent a notice to the London Court of International Arbitration, regarding a dispute with Bakshi about three months before it published a public notice announcing the end of Bakshi’s term as managing director of Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt Ltd, the joint venture.
Bakshi’s lawyer has, in an application before the CLB, stated that the termination notice was ex facie untenable, as it had been issued in an attempt to overreach CLB’s process, and the termination notice interfered with the course of CLB’s judicial proceedings, and it was illegal and liable to struck down and set aside by CLB.
In the application, Bakshi’s lawyers have requested CLB to pass an order directing the initiation of proceedings against McDonald’s for willful and intentional contempt.
