The Company Law Tribunal has dismissed (pdf) an application by AskMe employees looking to intervene in a case filed by former AskMe MD Sanjiv Gupta against the company. The employee group was invoking Order 1 Rule 10 of the CPC which states that a suit has been instituted in the name of the wrong person as plaintiff or it is doubtful that there is a right plaintiff. The court can substitute or add a plaintiff in order to determine the real matter in the dispute under this order. The CLBT stated that it has repeatedly asked the employees’ counsel as to how employees would have the right to intervene in the case but has got no persuasive reply other than, ‘it is in the larger public interest and in the interest of the respondent company (Getit Infoservices).’ It further states that the employee counsel hasn’t provided any provisions of the Companies Act 2013, or a precedent which states that employees are ‘entitled to intervene in the proceedings under Section 241 and 242 of the Act.’ According to the CLBT, since the applicants lack locus standi, the application was dismissed. Note that in this application, Respondent 1 is Astro (which owns AskMe), whereas Respondent 2 is Sidharth Gupta. AskMe suspended its operations on 17th of August and employees have not been paid their July and August 2016 salaries so far. ** The original case, which is due for a hearing on 17th of October, was filed by Sanjiv Gupta on 30th August,…
