RoC to issue notice to Reliance

In the first direct intervention in the Reliance affairs, government on Thursday said it has asked Registrar of Companies to issue notice to the group, headed by Mukesh Ambani, on complaints filed by his younger brother Anil.

Company Affairs secretary Komal Anand however, did not elaborate either on the details of the notice to be served by RoC, which is under administrative control of the ministry, or on the nature of complaints made by Anil.

During the over seven-month old public wrangling with Mukesh, the younger Ambani sibling has on many occasion raised the issues of corporate governance and absence of financial information and disclosures in Reliance.

The Reliance Ownership Issue: Complete Coverage

Late last month despite serving as vice chairman and managing director Anil had declined to sign the financial accounts of the group's flagship company Reliance, headed by Mukesh, and had made public his dissent at the board meeting on April 27.

Speaking on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Competition Commission of India, Anand said a report on the issue is expected to be completed within a week.

Anand's comments come within a week of Company Affairs Minister P C Gupta stating that the government was not sleeping over the issue and would take appropriate action.

Expressing concern over the developments in the Reliance group, Gupta had said on Monday that "government has to do its job. We are concerned with all developments taking place. We have received complaints from Anil Ambani."

"We are not sleeping over the matter. We know what we have to do. We are getting feedback (on Reliance developments) from the Registrar of Companies," Gupta had said.

Incidentally, market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India had said on Wednesday that it would take appropriate action on complaints filed by Anil.

"We have received certain letters from the company's vice chairman and managing director (Anil Ambani). We are acting on those letters. We will do whatever is necessary," Sebi chairman M Damodaran had said, adding, "we know about those issues and we know how to address those issues. We have started looking at those issues."