Chinese Banks Will Have To Move Indian Courts To Enforce Order Against ADA Group: British Court
Report By Nandika Chand | Kashmir Srinagar | Last Updated at May 25 2020
Anil Ambani, the chairman of ADA group, has to pay about $717 million to three Chinese banks within 21 days. This order was passed by the Commercial Division of the High Court of England and Wales on Friday. It said Chinese banks will have to move Indian courts to enforce the order in India.
Justice Nigel Teare said it is declared that the Guarantee is binding on the defendant (Ambani). “It is declared that the sum payable by the Defendant to the Claimant (banks) pursuant to the Guarantee is $716,917,681.51.”
A spokesperson for the corporate tycoon said the matter pertains to an alleged personal guarantee for a corporate loan availed by Reliance Communications Ltd in 2012 for global refinancing. Ambani’s legal representatives said the order could be challenged on grounds of conclusiveness under Section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. They said the UK court order will have no bearing on the operations of its other companies – Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital.
Senior Advocate Rajiv Bansal said the party passing a foreign judgment or decree must ensure that the foreign judgment or decree passes the test mentioned in the CPC. He said if it fails any of these tests, it will not be regarded as conclusive and hence not enforceable in India.
“A judgment from a court of a reciprocating territory can be directly enforced in India by filing an execution application. While filing the execution application, the original certified copy of teh decree along with a certificate from the superior court stating the extent to which the decree has been satisfied or adjusted, has to be annexed to the application,” Bansal said.
Other lawyers said India and England are reciprocating countries. This means that judgments will be enforced in India as if they were judgments of an Indian court. “The Indian court will not reconsider the arguments but only execute the judgement,” they said.
