UBHL told to deposit money with court in winding up case

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday orally directed United Breweries (Holdings) Ltd (UBHL) to deposit “some amount’’ with the court to consider the application for granting stay on the single bench order for winding up of UBHL.

UBHL has filed an original side appeal (OSA) challenging the single bench order which had directed winding up of UBHL for its inability to pay debts to international companies and a consortium of banks. UBHL contended that it has no obligation to make any payments as it was only the principal guarantor.

 During the hearing, the counsel for UBHL said that it had written a letter to the State Bank of India for a one-time settlement (OTS) to which SBI had responded that the amount, Rs 6,203 crore plus interest during the pendency of the case, is too huge for an OTS. Lenders had filed a case against UBHL seeking their dues from the now defunct Kingfisher Airlines. UBHL had given corporate guarantees for loans to run Kingfisher, which has virtually caused the collapse of Vijay Mallya's liquor empire. Mallya owns 52.34% stake in UBHL. Hearing the appeal, a division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal granted time and adjourned the next hearing to April 4.

Notice to actor Upendra

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday ordered status quo in an appeal filed by the state government challenging the land granted to film actor B M Upendra Kumar.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice R B Budihal ordered notice to the actor. The state government had challenged the single judge order which favoured the actor’s claims over agricultural land that he had bought in 2005 measuring 17.10 acres in Bylalu village, Tavarekere hobli, Bengaluru South taluk.

The Assistant Commissioner (AC) had issued a notice to the actor asking him to return the land to the government saying he had violated provisions of the Karnataka Land Reforms At, 1974. The actor had contended that he bought the land in his father B N Manjunatha Rao’s name as ‘kartha’ (head of the family) and the actor’s name is mentioned as lender. The AC said that such claims cannot be accepted.

The AC, in the notice, said that it is well known that Upendra is a reputed cine actor. His income from sources other than agriculture cannot be said to be less than Rs 2 lakh.