Supreme Court dismisses Ericsson contempt plea against SBI in RCom case

The Supreme Court dismissed Ericsson’s contempt petition against State Bank of India (SBI) chairman on grounds that Reliance Communications’ (RCom) failure to pay the Swedish telecom gear maker is independent of sale of assets overlooked by the Joint Lenders Forum.

“…we may point out that the contempt petition against the Chairman of SBI would not lie inasmuch as the Ericsson transaction and the sale of assets by the Joint Lenders’ Forum are completely independent of each other..”, said the apex court on Wednesday.

Ericsson in February had filed a contempt of court petition against SBI chairman in the SC for not fulfilling its assurance of settling RCom’s dues to the telecom equipment maker as the lead banker.


SBI was the lead banker in RCom’s asset monetisation plan. The lead banker has previously been a co-petitioner, requesting courts to allow sale of RCom’s assets to go through so that lenders can recover their money.

The apex court on Wednesday rejected Ericsson’s statement that all respondents in contempt petition were responsible in handing over Rs 550 crore worth of dues to Ericsson. “…is patently incorrect inasmuch as respondent no. 4 (SBI) has nothing to do with this amount of INR 550 crore which had to be paid over to Ericsson only by the three Reliance Companies. The contempt petition against the Chairman of SBI is, therefore, dismissed,” said SC in its order.