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CLB reserves order on interim stay in the Hindu row
Two days ahead of the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of Kasturi and Sons Ltd (KSL), which brings out The Hindu, the third-largest English daily in the country, the Company Law Board’s Chennai bench reserved its orders on an application for an interim stay on the KSL board resolutions on Wednesday. KV Lakshmana reports.
Two days ahead of the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) of Kasturi and Sons Ltd (KSL), which brings out The Hindu, the third-largest English daily in the country, the Company Law Board’s Chennai bench reserved its orders on an application for an interim stay on the KSL board resolutions on Wednesday.
The judge did not set any date for pronouncing the order, but sources indicated the judgment may come on Thursday.
One faction of the promoter family, which includes editor N Ravi, executive editor Malini Parthasarathy, joint editor Nirmala Lakshman and senior managing director N Murali had filed a petition before the CLB on May 10, challenging the board decision of April 18 to appoint Siddharth Varadarajan, the daily’s national bureau chief, as editor after editor-in-chief N Ram stepped down, and divest editor Ravi and Parthasarathy of editorial responsibilities.
The proposal also mentioned that a similar exercise was in the offing on the managerial side.
The board resolutions have to be ratified by the EGM of shareholders. Arguments from both sides lasted about three hours.
Lawyers representing the Ravi camp argued before the CLB that the resolutions were going to change the basic structure and functioning of the company and, therefore, needed a special resolution, which require a three-fourth majority -- as opposed to normal resolutions, which require a simple majority -- to be passed by the EGM.
Meanwhile, lawyers representing the Ram camp maintained that the decisions were taken in the best interests of the company that needed to ‘professionalise’ in the face of competition.
