Supreme Court approves name of former RBI executive director Uma Shankar to Unitech board

The Supreme Court approved the name of the former executive director of Reserve Bank of India, Uma Shankar, as a member of the government-appointed board of directors for Unitech Ltd on October 13.

Shankar’s name was approved by a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah.

With her appointment, there are now five directors on the Unitech board.

Uma Shankar comes in as a replacement for non-executive nominee director Renu Sud Karnad who resigned from the board in July this year, said Pawanshree Agrawal, amicus curiae in the Unitech matter.

On September 8, embattled real estate firm Unitech Ltd said that Niranjan Hiranandani and Anoop Kumar Mittal have resigned as non-executive nominee directors of the company. In a regulatory filing, Unitech informed that Niranjan L Hiranandani and Anoop Kumar Mittal, Non-Executive - Nominee Directors of the company, resigned from the board with effect from August 10 and August 16, respectively. The resignations were sent to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA).

In July, two other non-executive nominee directors Renu Sud Karnad and Balasubramanyam Sriram resigned from the company's board citing professional constraints.

After the resignations of four nominee directors, the strength of the board was reduced to half. Yudvir Singh Malik, lAS (Retd.) is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of Unitech Ltd. Jitu Virwani, Girish Kumar Ahuja, and Prabhakar Singh are the other three nominees directors of the central government.

Providing relief to over 15,000  homebuyers of Unitech, the top court had on January 20, 2020, permitted the Centre to take total management control of the embattled firm and approved the name of retired Haryana cadre IAS officer Yudvir Singh Malik as chairman and managing director (CMD) of the new board while directing the existing board of directors of the company would stand superseded.

The bench on October 13 also directed that an amount of Rs 83.80 crore be allowed to be disbursed on account of medical exigencies to those homebuyers whose names had been approved by the Sapre Committee in its report that was furnished before the apex court today.

It directed that the disbursal be made by the board of directors within one month from the date of disbursal by the registry. The court registry has been asked to disburse the amount within a week.

Money for the fixed deposit holders on account of medical exigencies would be taken up on the next date of hearing.

In August this year, the bench approved the plan of the committee headed by former apex court judge AM Sapre in making the refund to the homebuyers especially those who are in urgent medical need after consulting with them for 15 days starting from September 15 till September 30.

In April this year, Noting that several requests for refund have been received from homebuyers of Unitech Ltd who are above 75 years of age, fixed deposit holders, and persons in urgent need of money due to medical urgency to expedite their applications for refund, the Supreme Court on April 27 directed the amicus curiae to open the web portal for the purpose until May 15.

A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and MR Shah sought the data to be uploaded on a web portal meant for home buyers, which will be opened for a stipulated period till May 15.

The Enforcement Directorate, which is investigating money laundering charges against Unitech’s Chandras, had revealed to the Supreme Court on August 26, 2021, that Ramesh Chandra and Sanjay Chandra were operating a "secret underground office” in South Delhi from the Tihar jail. The office was visited by his sons Sanjay Chandra and Ajay Chandra when on parole or bail.

It said in its report that the Chandras have rendered the entire judicial custody meaningless as they have been freely communicating, instructing their officials, and disposing of properties from inside the jail in connivance with the prison staff there.

Both Sanjay and Ajay, in jail since August 2017, are accused of allegedly siphoning off home buyers' money.