Norwegian firm Telenor and its Indian partner Unitech have moved the Company Law Board (CLB) separately, trading charges against each other over control of their joint venture, Uninor.

While Telenor said it wants to prevent any "wrongful obstruction" of its effort to secure its investments in the country, Unitech said its petition was to prevent the Norwegian firm from "assuming full control over the business including assets of (their mobile brand) Uninor".

"On Friday, February 24, we have moved the Company Law Board to prevent any wrongful obstruction of our effort to secure our investments and the welfare of Uninor's four crore customers, employees and partners. We are not able to comment any further since this matter is now sub-judice," Telenor Group said in a statement.

Stating that it was sensitive to the interests of customers, employees, and other stakeholders of Uninor, Unitech said it "will continue to resist any mala-fide and/or
unilateral action by Telenor".

"Consequently, Unitech has filed a fresh petition in CLB today to enforce its rights under the Articles of Uninor and to prevent Telenor from assuming full control over the business including assets of Uninor," the company said in a separate statement.

Unitech alleged that "Telenor is trying to rescind the shareholders' agreement and annul the Articles of Uninor only to get out of certain protective provisions for the minority shareholders including the non-compete provision."

"In fact, even prior to the Supreme Court's order on striking down the policy of the Government of India with respect to the grant of UAS Licenses to telecom companies -Telenor has been pursuing the sole objective of pushing Unitech out of Uninor and assuming complete control over Uninor in abrogation of all the rights of Unitech under the articles of Uninor," Unitech added.

The CLB is an independent quasi-judiciary body that rules on corporate matters.

Last week, Telenor Group had announced plans to dump its partner Unitech and set up a new company for carrying out its Indian operations post Supreme Court quashing its 22 licences.

Telenor had also sought damages from Unitech accusing it of "fraud and misrepresentation" of facts based on which it had invested over Rs 6,000 crore in Uninor.

The Norwegian firm said it will hold 74 percent stake in the new company and may rope in a minority Indian partner.

Unitech, on the other hand, had said it "cannot be held responsible" for cancellation of licences and shareholders agreement "cannot be terminated by any party unilaterally". 
PTI