Supreme Court Rejects Singh Brothers Plea Against Delhi High Court Order
The Supreme Court is ‘not inclined to interfere’ with the Delhi High Court’s judgement.
The Supreme Court today rejected a plea by brothers Malvinder Singh and Shivinder Singh challenging a Delhi High Court order, which had held that the Rs 3,500-crore arbitral award in favour of Japanese drug maker Daiichi Sankyo was enforceable.
An apex court bench comprising of Justice Gogoi and Justice Bhanumati said that they are “not inclined to interfere” with the judgement of the Delhi High Court.
On Jan. 31,the Delhi High Court had ruled that the Rs 3,500-crore arbitration award that Daiichi Sankyo won against billionaire Singh brothers for concealing information about erstwhile Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. was enforceable in India.
Reacting to the judgement, a spokesperson of RHC Holdings, the Singh brothers’ holding company, said in a statement, “We are disappointed by the decision. The Hon'ble Court decided not to go into the merits of the majority arbitration award. We believe we have been wronged in the majority Singapore arbitration award. The case has hurt and crippled our entire group. We would now like to fight for our Justice and Pride at this point and not for economics only. We are evaluating the option to challenge the majority Arbitration Award in Singapore Courts.‘’
In what came as partial relief, the Delhi High Court had held that while the arbitral award is enforceable against the Singh brothers, it will not be enforceable against their children.
Daiichi Sankyo had filed the petition to enforce the arbitral award it had won in 2016 in the Singapore tribunal. The Japanese drug maker had argued that the Singh brothers concealed important information while selling Ranbaxy in 2008.
In 2013, Ranbaxy, a leading generic drugs company pleaded guilty in the U.S. to charges of distributing adulterated medicines and falsifying data. It had to pay a penalty of Rs 3,500 crore. Sun Pharmaceuticals Ltd. later acquired the company from Daiichi.