top of page
May 15, 202315 min read

Praying for taking Suo Moto Cognizance for the DHFL Scam Victims: an online petition to the CJI of I

Posted on 15/05/2023 (GMT 08:32 hrs)

Updated on 09/11/2023 (GMT 16:20 hrs)

An Appeal To All The DHFL Victims

उतिष्ठत जग्रत वरान् प्राप्य तत् निबोधत।

निशिता क्षुरस्य धारा दुरत्यया दुर्गं तत् पथः इति कवयः वदन्ति ॥

Arise, awake, find out the great ones and learn of them;

for sharp as a razor’s edge, hard to traverse, difficult of going is that path, say the sages.

As we, the DHFL Victims, are in the same boat with fraternity, please sign the above mass petition on the Change.Org platform, obliviating all the enmities, structured competition.

Anyone may sign this online petition (with comments and hashtags) even if they are not direct victims of this scam but are well-wishers in the spirit of camaraderie. Share as much as possible.

So, your kith and kin, friends are all encouraged and welcome to lend their support by signing this petition, which would take only a minute or so.

WE NEED AT LEAST 5,000 SIGNATURES TO REACH OUR TARGET.

Text of the Petition

|| यतो धर्मस्ततो जय: ||

Overview of the Petition

The petition reveals the secrets of the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (henceforth DHFL) scam, the biggest financial scam in post-independent India. However, most of the Indian media-houses have refused to cover this narrative due to the crony control over decision-making.

· The first part of the petition is on the condition of the DHFL FD and NCD holders, whose lifetime savings are at stake due to this scam.

· It also depicts the dilapidated condition of the Indian judiciary along with a reference to the DHFL victims’ case as constituting a breach in the international human rights obligations.

· The “breach” consists in the infringement of business-related human rights as guaranteed by the United Nations’ Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. It also goes against the policies of Green Banking. The DHFL scam is a financial abuse on the victims, viz., the small depositors, where a third party has forcibly intervened into the matter even though the previous owners/promoters of the company were willing to pay the full amount to the small depositors by keeping the DHFL as an “ongoing concern”.

· In the second part, the petition also deals with the loopholes of the RBI-appointed Committee of Creditors (CoC) for DHFL. It also points out the role of the following agents in the DHFL scam by adhering to the existent legal codes:

a) The current ruling party through terror-funding;

b) The Brand Ambassador of DHFL;

c) Mr. Ajay Piramal, an alleged insider trader and the self-proclaimed current “owner” of the DHFL;

d) The Wadhawan Brothers, the “former” (?) promoters of DHFL;

e) The Credit Rating Agencies and Auditors.

· The petition emphasizes on two principal verdicts in the context of the scam, viz.,

a) The NCLT Order dated 19/05/2021;

b) The NCLAT Order dated 27/01/2022.

Both of these orders were ignored by Mr. Piramal and the RBI-appointed CoC for DHFL under political patronization.

The petition demands the immediate remedy to this case by ensuring distributive justice to the suffering DHFL victims.

Given below is the petition in its entirety:

Sub: Requesting for taking Suo Moto Cognizance (Access to remedy) for saving the lives of ailing victims of business-related abuses in association with the one of the biggest scams in India related to Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL)

In continuation of our open letter ( Pleading for the DHFL Victims’ assertion of agency- marginalization due to financial abuse: A Letter to the Hon’ble CJI Chandrachud⤡) to you, the Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (henceforth DHFL) scam victims are now humbly submitting a mass petition to you for recovering their hard earned money. The DHFL victims along with their kith-and-kin, friends, are earnestly requesting you to take Suo Moto Cognizance as:

a) many of the victims (FD and NCD holders of the DHFL) are not so rich to reach the expensive pulpit of the Supreme Court and they have already lost their life savings by investing in a highly rated solvent company, viz., DHFL, an ongoing concern;

b) many of the victims are senior citizens, physically challenged persons, widows/widowers and they are depending on the returns from their FDs and NCDs. Even some governmental organizations, viz., the Air Force and UP power corporations have put their money in the form of FD or NCD. From such “safe” investment by the victims presupposes their inability to participate in the vulnerable stock market, controlled by a Himalayan Guru;

c) the victims, a diasporic population, are not physically able to initiate non-violent peaceful movement against such a manufactured scam. The only way left for them is to take their recourse to web-based movements following the go of the day;

d) they are not tech savvy persons to raise their voices on the web platforms following the strategy of contemporary web-based social movements, the new fifth pillar of the democracy.

e) people are also scared in the contemporary Indian autocratic scenario as observed several times by the Freedom House and V-Dem Institute. Hence, at this claustrophobic time of deceit, telling the truth is very difficult for them.

f) Some of the Indian citizens have lost their faith in the Indian judiciary⤡, however, after your appointment as the Chief Justice of India, they have rejuvenated their faith in the sanctity of the legal process.

It is redundant to say that without mass mobilization or without pressure groups, the four other pillars (especially the Judiciary) cannot perform to establish free and just society. DHFL victims, financially abused due to violation of their business related human rights as declared in the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights ⤡ (in this context, “Access to remedy for victims of business-related abuses”), are appealing to you for remedy, while happily keeping in mind the Suo Moto initiatives taken by the Hon’ble Indian Supreme Court by using its inherent powers, taking cognizance of serious matters of concern like the colonial sedition law on its own.

In this context, DHFL victims and their associates are also emphasizing on the Article 142, which provides a unique power to the Supreme Court to do “complete justice” between the parties, where, at times, the law or statute may not provide a remedy.

It is to be noted that some of the DHFL victims had previously approached the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), India, but the petition was refused by stating that this type of case on financial abuse does not come under the purview of the NHRC, chaired by Arun Kumar Mishra, an alleged “sycophant” of the Hon. Prime Minister and the Hon. Minister of Home Affairs.

I. FLASHBACK: BACKGROUND OF THE DHFL SCAM, FOR WHICH FD AND NCD-HOLDERS ARE VICTIMIZED

In a nutshell, the beginning of the narrative of the DHFL Scam is as follows:

In October 2019, all payments to the DHFL FD holders were stopped after Mr. Ambani, through his company Reliance Nippon Life Insurance, approached the Hon’ble Bombay High Court, which gave its verdict on 10/10/2019. Soon after the company was brought under the IBC (2016) in November-December 2019, the board of directors were removed and the CoC was constituted. A simulated bidding war started between 20+ corporate groups such as Adani (who was more of a dummy bidder), Oaktree Capitals and Piramal Capital and Housing Finance Limited. All other bidders left the bidding to pave the way for Piramal’s acquisition.

a. NCLT’s verdict (19.05.2021) to reconsider the full repayment proposal of the erstwhile directors of DHFL was left unheard, and Piramal with the CoC got the order revoked within days at the NCLAT on 25.05.2021 without answering the NCLT’s pertinent questions. Whether the same can be admitted as a contempt of court or not requires judicial attention. Mr. Piramal thus presumably violated Article 215 of the Indian Constitution (cf. THE NARRATIVE(S) OF DHFL “BETTING”, SORRY BIDDING! VIEW HERE ⤡ )


b. NCLT was forced to approve the resolution plan on 07.06.2021. Piramal “acquired” the DHFL in September 2021 on the basis of the NCLT, the lowest quasi-judicial body’s verdict.

c. The NCLAT verdict (27.01.2022) that designated the CoC resolution process to be “contrary to law”, “void” and as containing “material irregularities” was stayed by (in terms of a temporary restraining order or ex parte stay, not a blanket stay order but one that is still pending in the apex court of law) the Hon. Supreme Court on 11.04.2022 after Mr. Piramal approached it on 01.03.2022 without first approaching the High Court. [Cf. Case No. 5046/2022 (25-02-2022 12:31 PM) C.A. No. 001632 – 001634 / 2022 Registered on 25-02-2022]

It is also to be noted that the entire case is still pending in the apex court.

NCLAT’s 27th January, 2022, verdict was in response to 63 Moons’ Technologies’ petition, which questioned the so-called “acquisition” of the DHFL (worth 45k Cr assets) by Mr. Piramal by paying only a rupee!

Mr. Piramal, as an “influential” person, is an obsessive and habitual blanket stay order-seeker. Earlier, in a case of eco-terrorism, he did the same thing and was rejected by the National Green Tribunal(NGT). cf. Ajay Piramal: How Many Times Are You Seeking “Blanket” Stay Orders? VIEW HERE ⤡

In the occasion of both the stay orders, it can be seen that Piramal is more equal than others⤡.

For your convenience, we are forwarding the following links to make out the background of DHFL victim’s miseries.

II. ALL ABOUT THE DHFL SCAM

III. REGARDING RBI-APPOINTED COC’S CONDUCTS:


It is to be noted that a Resolution Professional comes within the meaning of ‘Public Servant’ under Section 2(c) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and Section 233 of IBC does not protect where he has been apprehended red-handed with the bribe amount – Sanjay Kumar Agarwal Vs. Central Bureau of Investigation, Anti-Corruption Bureau, Dhanbad – Jharkhand High Court.

It is also to be duly noted that the old promoters of the DHFL, Mr. Kapil and Dheeraj Wadhawan, were not allowed to participate in the RBI-appointed CoC’s resolution process following the (controversial and ineligible) IBC U/S 29A ⤡, even though the Hon’ble NCLAT New Delhi declared: “Suspended Director, who was representing the Corporate Debtor and has submitted the Settlement Proposal is entitled to participate in deliberation and negotiation undertaken by the CoC.” (in Sanjeev Mahajan Vs. Indian Bank (Erstwhile Allahabad Bank) & Anr.)

We are reminded of the known fact that Bankruptcy will not void personal guarantees: Hon’ble Supreme Court VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on May 22, 2021 ©The Times of India). Let us look at the rules and regulations of IBC (2016) for such deliberate avoidance of the Wadhawan brothers (“former” promoters of the DHFL) by the CoC to hand the DHFL over to Mr. Ajay Piramal, a hostile bidder and an alleged insider trader ⤡, which appears to be a case of adverse possession⤡ or squatter’s right.

The RBI appointed CoC administrator and the representative of the FD-holders are good for nothing, but they had swallowed DHFL victims’ money to continue expensive Resolution Process.. If they are to be sued by the DHFL victims, they would fight against the victims by utilizing their money. As public servants, what they have done is probably a case of legal conflict.

IV. ALL ABOUT AJAY PIRAMAL, the “winner” of the DHFL Bidding:


1. Mr. Piramal is an alleged insider trader (2016)

2. He is an eco-terrorist (for polluting Digwal, Telangana in 2019) and also who sought “blanket stay order” at the National Green Tribunal, which was rejected. In the case of the DHFL also, he wanted such a similar stay order on the “controversial” NCLAT second verdict (27/01/2022). 3. He was involved in Flashnet Scam, 2018 (though Mr. Piramal was ready to defame The Wire, who first exposed the scam, for reporting the same, but till date: no such step has been taken by him) 4. He is possibly involved in contempt of court during the DHFL resolution process by ignoring NCLT’s first verdict (19/05/2021) and skipping the points raised by the NCLAT second order (27/01/2022).


Though it is a mere truism that “International law is the vanishing point of jurisprudence” ⤡, yet if sovereign government cuts a sorry figure to implement all the procedures to uphold international business-related rights of its citizens, a financially abused person would be compelled to take his/her/their recourse to the vanishing point, i.e., parallel international “law” (?) without hampering the sovereignty of the imagined nation state⤡. In doing so, the state must be compelled to fulfill its international human rights obligations.

V. ALL ABOUT THE WADHAWAN BROTHERS: “OLD” PROMOTERS OF DHFL

The “old” (?!) promoters of the DHFL, viz., the Wadhawan Brothers, were removed from their company roles when DHFL was put under the Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process (CIRP) at the end of 2019. However, they had repeatedly stated their offer for full repayment of all the creditors, which were ignored by the RBI-appointed CoC. The Wadhawans were not also allowed to participate in the decision-making process of the DHFL resolution.

The CBI, on October-November, 2022, came up with a report that stated that the Wadhawans engaged in creating “shell” or “dummy”/”proxy” companies to siphon off astronomical amounts of money through fraudulent transactions by creating fake bank accounts.

It has also been recently reported by the Godi Media that the Wadhawans, who are currently in penal confinement, are living a “lavish” lifestyle under the pretext of seeking medical treatment.

Kindly note that Maharashtra is currently under the governance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) coalition with a faction of the Shiv Sena. It is also to be remembered that the faction of Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) members were bought by spending huge amount of money (horse-trading) and blackmailing. How can Wadhawans live such a luxurious life when the BJP coalition is in de facto power in the said state? Could they have done the same without political aid?

Information regarding them could be found in the following two articles:

It is very difficult to understand the situation of the DHFL occupation as both Wadhawan Brothers and Mr. Piramal are favoured by the ruling party of India, although in different ways. It may be conjectured that it is a game of money: terror-funding/political donation/political charity.

VI. WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE DECEPTIVE AUDITING OF THE DHFL?

i. What is the role of the auditors in the case of the DHFL scam? Did the DHFL lack any diligent auditing? Who is to be held responsible for such collapse of a profitable ongoing concern?

ii. What is the role of the Rating Agencies in the case of the DHFL scam, an AAA-rated company?

Were the watchdogs (they cannot be bulldogs!) of financial affairs taking sedatives or sleeping pills during the so-called “fraudulent transactions” through the alleged “Bandra Books” (yet to be evidentially proved in the court of law) as well as the relation of the DHFL ex-promoters to Yes Bank promoter Mr. Rana Kapoor?

VII. ALL ABOUT THE BRAND AMBASSADOR OF THE DHFL: MR. SHAH RUKH KHAN

Some of the victims of the DHFL Scam are demanding the Brand Ambassador’s positive response on this matter as he has deceived the consumers by promoting the DHFL, under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019⤡, for “False and Misleading Advertisements” by violating the rights of the consumers. Here, the Brand Ambassador of the DHFL did not follow the path of Mr. Mithun Chakraborty, who returned 1.15 crores taken from Saradha ponzi scheme to the Enforcement Directorate. For such deceiving advertisements, the consumers cannot come under the definition of caveat emptor (Let the buyer beware!).

VIII. ROLE OF THE RULING PARTY OF INDIA

Mr. Ajay Piramal, the so-called “winner” of the bidding war, has always remained in the good book of the current ruling party of India, viz., the BJP. This was clear even much before the DHFL scam, when Mr. Piramal’s collusion with the ruling party became evident through the fact of Flashnet Scam involving BJP Union Minister Mr. Piyush Goyal.

Furthermore, on 29.01.2019, the Cobrapost, in its findings on the DHFL scam, reported that the BJP, the ruling party of India, was involved in this scam through terror-funding/political donation/political charity. The nexus/collusion amidst DHFL, RKW Developers (Dheeraj Realty), the BJP and the Dawood Ibrahim-Iqbal Mirchi Gang was alleged through this report.

When concerned authority of the RTI gave some #DHFL_Victims a negative(ambiguous?) response, the victims had requested the President, BJP and the Sarsanghchalak of the RSS (a non-registered Hindu extremist group) to file a defamation case against the media houses, who had spread such “rumors”. against a party, which is not a public authority. .

However, till date no such defamation case has been filed either by the BJP or by the RSS against those newspapers.

It is also to be mentioned that on 25.06.2022, the Indian National Congress alleged the BJP of getting political donations worth 27.5 crores (or more, as political parties are not “public authorities”, it is very difficult to know the exact figure of donations made by unknown sources in the electoral bonds.)

Ambiguously enough, in the case of PM CARES fund, it is simultaneously governmental as well as non-governmental. None can use the RTI for any inquiry about these transparently opaque cases from the scam-hit DHFL.

From a general viewpoint of political analysis, the role of the ruling party is to be correlated with these rampant bankruptcies in the past decade in India:

IX. CONCLUSIVE REMARKS

From October 2019, DHFL victims are suffering from psychosomatic disorders for the reason of such scam, where they understand the real meaning of the proverb: Justice Delayed, Justice Denied. Some of them have suicidal tendencies or they are appealing for legalizing active euthanasia in India⤡.(death with dignity) by compromising their “Right to Life” (Article 21 of the Indian Constitution). In so far as it violates Article 21, it does, in effect, also infringe the right of the DHFL victims to live a life worthy of human dignity and the right to adequate means of livelihood under all circumstances. In the context of the wounded India⤡, they seek distributive justice with the aim of a free and just society.

Thus, the DHFL victims have been stripped off their ability to sustain as sane human beings in order to consolidate a life of content fulfillment. The state-corporate-underworld nexus has made them mere paupers, unable to voice their grave concerns to those concerned.

PS: It is to be noted that this one is the sixth petition of the #DHFL_Victims. Other five (knocking the doors of the Gatekeepers) are listed below:



UPDATE (07/09/2023):

While going through online petitions on the DHFL scam, surprisingly enough, we found our petitions have been reposted or reshared on two other platforms for acceptance of signatures as well. The posts have been made by two anonymous persons:

Comments

bottom of page