(1.) Applications, numbering more than 300 have been received from various Depositors under section 73(4) of the Companies Act, 2013. The lead case is being taken up as Bimla Kothari v. M/s. Unitech Ltd. and pleadings and documents filed therein, being voluminous, would be considered common to all petitions.
(2.) Fixed deposits invited from the public have duly matured, but the Respondent Company has raised its hands and expressed its inability to repay the matured proceeds. The Respondent had initially approached the erstwhile Company Law Board with an application under section 74(2) of the Companies Act 2013 for extension of time to repay the deposits which was rejected.
(3.) The investors, many of whom are either Senior Citizens or are facing acute financial crisis, have approached this forum for redressal of their grievances with the fond hope of retrieving their investments. They have alleged that the respondents have siphoned off the money and have diverted investments into their subsidiaries and JVs with the intention of depriving the depositors of their rightful claims. The agitated depositors are aggrieved that while their lives' savings entrusted to the Respondents are not being repaid, the Directors and the family members continue to live opulently and in the lap of luxury.