NCLAT To Hear Vikram Bakshi’s Plea Against McDonald’s Today
Vikram Bakshi moves NCLAT against McDonald’s. Hearing on Thursday.
The standoff between Vikram Bakshi and McDonald’s reached the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal on Wednesday, a day after his plea for contempt proceedings against the burger chain was rejected by the National Company Law Tribunal.
The case stems from McDonald’s termination of a franchise pact for 169 outlets in north and east India that Bakshi’s Connaught Plaza Restaurants Pvt. operated. Bakshi and McDonald’s are locked in a fight since 2013, when he was removed as the managing director of Connaught Plaza. He was reinstated by the NCLT earlier this year.
Connaught Plaza’s board met on Wednesday under Justice GS Singhvi, a retired Supreme Court judge appointed as an administrator. Representatives of McDonald’s were present at the meeting, Bakshi said in a text message to BloombergQuint. “The administrator asked both parties to await NCLAT's decision tomorrow,” he said. Bakshi was reappointed the managing director during the meeting.
In an emailed statement to BloombergQuint on Tuesday, McDonald’s had said, “The termination notice period ends today (September 5). Therefore, CPRL (Connaught Plaza) is no longer authorised to use the McDonald's system and its intellectual property...We are proceeding with exercising our legal and contractual rights.”
The burger chain had over 450 outlets in India through two franchises till it ended partnership with Bakshi’s Connaught Plaza. Hardcastle Restaurants, a subsidiary of Westlife Development Ltd., operates over 250 McDonald’s outlets in west and south India.