JOIN USExpressing shock at its Norweigan partner Telenor's announcement of a new Indian venture, real estate firm Unitech today said it cannot be held responsible for Supreme Court cancelling their 22 telecom licenses.
"We reiterate that the Hon'ble Supreme Court has cancelled all the UAS licenses and spectrum granted on and after 10th January 2008 while questioning the government policy. Unitech cannot be held responsible for this in any manner," Unitech said in a statement.
On February 2, the Supreme Court quashed 122 licenses, which were issued in 2008 under the then telecom minister A Raja and asked the government to conduct auction of the spectrum thus freed.
Telenor has announced that it will form an Indian venture with 74 per cent stake and rope in a minority Indian partner to participate in the proposed spectrum auction.
"It is shocking that Telenor intends to transfer the entire business to a new affiliated entity owned by itself. This not only shows complete disregard and oppression of the minority shareholder by Telenor, but is also against all principles of related party transactions," Unitech said.
Unitech further said: "Telenor cannot transfer any assets of Uninor without the consent of Unitech, because we have veto right in the shareholders' agreement as well as in the articles of association for such matters."
Saying that the shareholders' agreement cannot be terminated by any party unilaterally, Unitech alleged that Telenor's move is as an "attempt to circumvent the non-compete provisions of the agreement".
The company said it will take legal recourse to protect its investments and rights under the shareholders' agreement and the Indian laws.