Pune, Oct,8, 2016: Tata Sons Limited has today filed evidence in support of its September 5th, 2016 application before the English High Court of Justice. The application seeks to set aside the Court’s July 25th, 2016 ex-parte order that granted NTT Docomo Inc. leave to enforce the LCIA arbitral award dated June 22nd, 2016.
Tata Sons’ evidence outlines the grounds on which enforcement of the award will be resisted by Tata Sons. These include: first, that Docomo has not validly tendered its shares in Tata Teleservices Limited to Tata Sons, which is a necessary condition precedent to payment by Tata of the sum awarded by the arbitral tribunal; and secondly, that performance of the award without approval by the Reserve Bank of India would be illegal under Indian law and/or contrary to public policy.
Tata Sons wishes to clarify that, by pursuing the above application before the English High Court, it is following the path laid down by the arbitral tribunal in the award. The arbitral tribunal, with Docomo’s encouragement, expressly left open the issue of whether performance of the award would require approval from the Reserve Bank of India. Tata sought such approval and was refused. Accordingly, Tata Sons’ actions do not, in any manner, detract from its stated commitment to discharge its obligations to the fullest extent permitted under law. As evidence of the same Tata Sons has deposited, and continued to keep deposited, a sum of $1.17 billion, representing the entire amount due under the award, with the Delhi High Court since July 2016.
