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A Supreme Court bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundaresh passed an order today that has put an end to almost 70 litigations filed against Azim Premji and his affiliates by one Subramaniam and India Awake for Transparency Ltd.

Going by some media reports, Premji was an initial investor in Subhiksha, he however withdrew eventually.

Subramaniam was also subsequently arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) Tamil Nadu on the charges of financial misappropriation. He subsequently started an entity called India Awake for Transparency Ltd and initiated a slew of litigations against Premji, accusing him of siphoning away ₹13,602 crores from three shadow banks — Napean Trading & Investment Company, Vidya Investment & Trading Company, and Regal Investments & Trading Company — in the form of gifts between 2010 and 2012.

According to the reports the three companies were eventually merged into a fourth privately-owned trust called Hasham Investment and Trading Company. It was claimed that this gave Premji control over the remaining assets of the company worth ₹31,342 crore and it’s been losing money ever since.

However, none of Subramaniam allegations could be substantiated. On the last date of hearing, Subramaniam submitted that he is at a stage of life where he wants to repent for his past conduct else otherwise, “he will drown in a whirlpool of his own creation”.
He added that he was willing to submit an affidavit seeking to make amends for his past conduct vis-a-vis the appellants and other parties to start a new chapter in his life.

The bench suggested Mukul Rohatgi, Sr.Adv, appearing for Premji to discuss with the clients and find out if the series of this litigation can be brought to an end and if they are ready to let go of the litigation.

Rohatgi informed the court that Premji is willing to let go subject to the following conditions:

1. An apology for the past conduct including initiating these proceedings in different forums;
2. An undertaking to withdraw all proceedings whether in this matter or otherwise initiated by him which are not in defence of claims in Subhiksha/Vishwapriya;
3. An undertaking for the future not to launch any proceedings and undertaking to wind up this organization and not to create any more organization nor to use his brilliance and help of other people to create further litigation;
4. The list of companies which will have any amount in them will be surrendered to Premji

When the hearing for the matter commenced today, Subramaniam accepted all the conditions laid down by Rohatgi on the previous date of hearing. The court on hearing this noted that, “The present proceedings have shown that there is nothing impossible as long as the parties are willing to see the reality of a given situation.”

The court further noted that more than 70 litigations were misconceived as they are initiated by the respondent will be brought to an end.
The court took note of the fact that Subramaniam wants to start a new chapter in his life. The court however as a word of caution recorded that, “We have observed his intent and also noticed that even if he redeems for his past conduct it will not take away his liability in Subiksha and Vishwapriya litigations. Failures of those schemes have brought Mr. Subramaniam and in an endeavour to escape his liability litigation was initiated.”

The court held that on the last date of hearing Rohatgi and Ganesh, Sr.Advs had agreed to persuade Azim Premji to take a more compassionate view of the conduct of Subramaniam and put a closure to all issues subject to the condition that no litigation is faced by them from him. The court noted that Subramaniam has apologised.

The court recorded that Mr.Subramaniam had filed an affidavit as per his assurance given on the last date of hearings all litigation pending before courts.

The court further recorded that, “We are happy to note that Premji has taken a constructive view in the matter.” The  court noted that “the first and most important aspect, which this court understands is public apology of Subramaniam in leading news papers, we approve of the same with one modification, while referring to the directors auditors and executives names of other appellants should be specifically included. We thus give our consent to publish this public apology in the form placed before us.”

The court held that in view of this settlement  the initiation of the criminal proceedings,  judgment of Karnataka High Court in this regard and other cases are accordingly set aside. The court noted that, “We do believe that this aspect has been unnecessarily agitated again and again.”

The court accordingly disposed off all the related litigations, it has however kept the contempt proceedings against Subramaniam pending to monitor the compliance. The contempt proceedings have been directed to be listed in December 2023.

Case title: Azim Premji Vs India Awake for Transparency