India’s Supreme Court dismisses two staff members for trying to protect Anil Ambani from personal appearance

• Yesterday, the Chief Justice of India was forced to dismiss two registrars.
  
• They were reportedly let go for changing the wording in a document in order to prevent Ambani from making a personal appearance in court.
  
• The case, which was filed by Ericsson, involves contempt proceedings against Reliance Communications and its promoter Anil Ambani for the non-payment of a ₹5.5 billion loan.

As Ericsson’s contempt proceedings against Reliance Communications and its promoter Anil Ambani for the non-payment of a ₹5.5 billion loan near a conclusion, it seems that some people in the Supreme Court’s camp were trying to save Anil Ambani the embarrassment of appearing in court.

Yesterday, the Chief Justice of India was forced to dismiss two registrars, Manav Sharma and Tapan Chakaraborty, - whose job it is to upload orders on the SC website - for deliberately changing the wording in a document in order to prevent Ambani from making a personal appearance in court, according to the Telegraph.

The order, which was dated January 7, called for Ambani to submit to questioning in court. However, the order which was uploaded reportedly featured a clause, “personal appearance of the alleged contemnor(s) dispensed with”. The word “not” was omitted to suggest that Ambani wasn’t required to show up.

After representatives of Ericsson pointed out the mistake, the correct version of the order was uploaded a few days later on January 10. A follow-up inquiry reportedly revealed that the omission of the word “not” was deliberate.

Concurrently, the Supreme Court’s verdict in the contempt please case was reserved yesterday. Anil Ambani has made personal appearances for the past two days in front of the bench led by Justice RF Nariman.

Earlier this month, Reliance Communications commenced insolvency proceedings through the National Company Law Tribunal. The former telecom major has nearly ₹450 billion in debts. In order to trim its debt burden, Ambani was hoping to secure a mammoth sale of spectrum assets to his brother Mukesh Ambani’s Jio. However, the deal was called off in December last year. As things stand, Reliance Communications is struggling to find buyers for its assets.


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