Mumbai: The Supreme Court on Friday stopped Aakash Educational Services, a subsidiary of beleaguered edtech firm Byju’s, not to implement a resolution to amend its Articles of Association (AoA) that was passed at its extraordinary general meeting. The proposed AoA sought to dilute the rights of minority shareholders, including Singapore VII Topco I Pte Ltd, owned by Blackstone, which holds a 6.97 per cent stake in Aakash. Blackstone had alleged that its rights and interests were being violated.
A Bench of Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna and Justice PV Sanjay Kumar directed Aakash Education to approach the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) in seven days. The stay on implementation of the resolution will remain in place till the first date of hearing of the appeal before the NCLAT.
The order follows Blackstone’s appeal against a Karnataka High Court ruling on November 25 that allowed Aakash to proceed with the amendments despite opposition from minority shareholders. The Supreme Court clarified that the Karnataka High Court’s order would not
interfere with the NCLAT’s decision-making process. Aakash Institute and Manipal Health Systems informed the apex court that they will not be pursuing the writ petition in the Karnataka High Court against the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order.