The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) has recently issued non-bailable warrants against three directors of Direct News Private Limited in an application filed by Nxt Digital Limited of Hinduja Global Solutions of the Hinduja Group.
The directors are Rakesh Sharma, resident of Greater Kailash, Delhi; Intzar Ali, resident of Badarpur, Delhi and Prateek Singh, resident of Sriniwaspuri, New Delhi.
In a recent hearing, the Tribunal, led by Justice DN Patel and comprising Member Subodh Kumar Gupta, addressed the payment disputes stemming from a previous decree. The case involves an overdue payment of Rs 7,26,00,000, of which only Rs 2,00,00,000 has been paid by the judgment debtor (Direct News). The counsel for Nxt Digital expressed concerns over the continued non-compliance, noting that the remaining dues of Rs 5,26,00,000 were to be settled in instalments between November 2024 and May 2025, which had not been honoured.
The Tribunal highlighted several failures on the part of the directors of Direct News to appear for hearings despite multiple notices, including a service request issued through local police. As a result, the Tribunal determined that the directors, who were identified to be evading their obligations, must personally appear to address the outstanding payment issues.
“In fact the amount due and payable and sizeable amount [Rs 16.58 crore] and out of that amount the reduced amount was Rs 7,26,00,000 subject to the conditions that within 18 instalments as stated in hereinabove the payment shall be made, but the Judgment Debtor [Direct News] has not made the payment within the time scheduled agreed by them. Prima facie, it appears that the Judgment Debtor is avoiding the execution of the decree. Hence the aforesaid maximum time limit is given to the Judgment Debtor failing which, Non-Bailable Warrant shall be executed upon the Directors of Judgment Debtor,” the order dated March 28, 2025 said.
The Tribunal ordered the respective police station SHOs to serve non-bailable warrants to the individuals named, mandating their presence before the court due to Direct News’ apparent avoidance of the decree. In the event that the remaining balance is not settled by April 9, 2025, further legal actions will be pursued.
The case has been adjourned to April 17, 2025, with further scrutiny expected regarding Direct News’ actions and intentions to fulfil their contractual duties.
Nxt Digital was represented by Advocate Upender Thakur and Advocates Manish Vashishtha, Vishakha U Thakur, Akshitha Nain, Priyanka Thakur, Yasheshvi Vashishtha and Kavya Singh.
Direct News was represented by Shyam Nandan and Gaurav Srivastava.
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