LVS-DBS Merger: Madras High Court adjourns matter in view of Supreme Court notice in transfer petition

A Madras High Court Bench headed by Justice R Subbiah today adjourned various petitions filed over the LVB-DBS Bank merger, in view of the Supreme Court's issuance of notice in a petition to transfer all such matters before various High Courts to the Bombay High Court. .Appearing for the DBS Bank, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi told the Bench of Justices Subbiah and C Saravanan that the Supreme Court had, on December 18, issued notice returnable in ten days on the transfer petition. .The matter may come up before the Supreme Court some time in January. In view of this, the Karnataka High Court had also adjourned the case before it to January 22, Rohatgi submitted. .Therefore, he urged that the Madras High Court also adjourn the matter till after the Supreme Court's decision on the transfer plea. .During today's hearing, brief arguments on behalf of the Arya Vysya Charitable and Education Foundation was also made. Advocate Selvan Babu told the Court that on the directions of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the public charitable trust's bonds were completely written off. .He urged the Court to issue an order for interim relief so that a reserve fund may be constituted for bond-holders in the same way such interim relief was granted for shareholders. It was pointed out that there was no stay by the Supreme Court on this interim order issued for the relief of shareholders. Such interim relief would not hurt the RBI or DBS bank, he argued. .[LVB-DBS Bank merger] Madras High Court grants Lakshmi Vilas Bank shareholders limited interim relief, no stay on merger [Read Order].The Court, however, confined to admitting the matter and adjourning the case by four weeks to await the Supreme Court's decision on the transfer plea. The other petitions which came up before the High Court include those by Kamakshipitchai, AVR Swarnamahal Educational Trust and the Brookfields Estate Pvt Ltd..Apart from Rohatgi, Senior Advocate ARL Sundaresan also appeared on behalf of DBS Bank for Advocates Suhrith Parthasarathy, Anuj Berry, Veena Sivaramakrishnan, Shiv Johar and Vinayak Chawla. Advocate P Giridharan, led by Advocate General Vijay Narayan and instructed by AZB & Partners, Mumbai appeared for the RBI today.