(1.) The main challenge in all these petitions is to the final amalgamation order dated 12th February 2016 (impugned order) made by the Central Government under Section 396 of the Companies Act, 1956 (Companies Act), amalgamating the National Spot Exchange Limited (NSEL) and 63 Moons Technologies Limited, formerly known as Financial Technologies (India) Limited (FTIL).
(2.) The lead petition in this batch is Writ Petition No. 2743 of 2014 instituted by FTIL and its 3 shareholders. Jignesh Shah, who, directly or indirectly has stake of almost 46% in FTIL and who is also the Vice Chairman of NSEL and some other promoters/shareholders of FTIL have instituted Writ Petition Nos. 387 of 2015 and 2985 of 2014. The shareholders' association of FTIL (SHAFT) purporting to represent the retail shareholders of FTIL has instituted Writ Petition No. 1922 of 2016. The Standard Chartered Bank, an unsecured creditor to FTIL has instituted Writ Petition No. 1785 of 2016. The Syndicate Bank, the Union Bank of India and the DBS Bank Ltd., unsecured creditors to FTIL had instituted Writ Petition Nos. 793 of 2017, 790 of 2017 and 35 of 2017. However, these petitions, have since been withdrawn unconditionally on 24th July 2017. NSEL and some employees of FTIL, as respondents/intervenors have supported the petitioners' challenge to the impugned order.
(3.) The Central Government, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) formerly Forward Markets Commission (FMC) and some associations representing the interest of investors, who claim to have lost an amount of Rs.5600 crores by trading on the platform provided by NSEL, have defended the impugned order.