Ficci chairman Sidharth Birla supports Sunil Mittal against court summons

NEW DELHI: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( Ficci) senior V-P Sidharth Birla has said the Delhi special court summons to Bharti Airtel chairman Sunil Mittal, in a case related to alleged irregularities and losses in allocation of airwaves in 2002, contradicted provisions in the Companies Law.

In a communication to ministry of corporate affairs and markets regulator Sebi, Birla said the special court’s move to ‘summon as accused’ Mittal along with Essar Group promoter Ravi Ruia and former managing director of Hutchison Max (now Vodafone) Asim Ghosh, on the grounds that these executives chaired board meetings and controlled their respective companies’, was against the corporate governance code that holds a company’s top management collectively responsible for the firm’s actions. On Monday, Mittal had moved the Supreme Court for quashing the summons.