The high court has asked Glocal’s promoters and shareholders, including former Sebi chairman M Damodaran to file affidavits of their assets and disclose their liabilities. The court also rejected Damodaran’s plea to be absolved from any liability in the case.
UpHealth, a digital health company, acquired a 95% stake in Glocal in 2020. The dispute started after UpHealth claimed their right to two directors on the board of Glocal as per the share purchase agreement (SPA) in September 2022, which was defeated in an extraordinary general meeting (EGM).
UpHealth invoked the arbitration clause in the SPA and got an order from an ‘Emergency Arbitrator’ for access to Glocal’s financials.
The International Court of Arbitration (ICA) in the US awarded damages amounting to nearly ₹290 crore to UpHealth against Glocal Healthcare, its promoters, key shareholders, and directors.
Damodaran was also asked to pay ₹63.10 crore as damages. Other shareholders who were asked to pay damages include Dr Syed Azim (₹94.69 crore), Richa Sana Axim (₹94.68 crore), and Gautam Chowdhury (₹21.48 crore).UpHealth moved the Calcutta HC from the implementation of the Emergency Arbitrator’s Order alleging that Glocal did not cooperate with the arbitration.In the interim order, the Calcutta High Court said Damodaran does not deserve any ‘special treatment’ and is bound by the consequences of breaching the SPA.
Damodaran did not respond to ET’s queries.
In August 2023, the Calcutta High Court passed a final order in favour of UpHealth, following which Glocal appealed against the order, which is pending without any stay.
The high court, in its interim order, took objection to Glocal parallelly approaching the NCLT, seeking a stay on the award without disclosing to the High Court. It also criticised the Glocal management, saying it displayed “traits of defaulters”.
