Offshore investors led by HSBC Daisy Investments (Mauritius) on Monday moved the Supreme Court against the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) order that allowed the joint lenders led by SBI to alienate the mortgaged assets of Reliance Infratel to Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom arm of Reliance Industries.

A Bench led by Justice AK Goel posted the matter for hearing on Monday.

The minority shareholders challenged the NCLAT’s Friday interim order, on the grounds that the appellate tribunal acted in “undue haste without appreciating the irregularities evident on the face of record in the proposed sale of assets” of Reliance Infratel, the tower unit of Reliance Communications. And this was allowed even though the SBI or the convenors of the joint lenders forum were neither parties before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, nor had they filed any appeal before the NCLAT, they said in the appeal.

NCLT interim order of March 12 restraining Reliance Infratel and others from selling its assets was passed on HSBC Daisy’s plea alleging oppression of minority shareholders and mismanagement for not taking their consent for the asset sale as per the Articles of Association of the company.

HSBC Daisy and some other minority shareholders together holding just over 4% in the tower firm. In July 2007, HSBC Daisy Investment along with a clutch of other investors had invested around Rs 1,100 crore in Reliance Infratel for about 5% stake, which has now come down to 4.26%. NCLAT chairperson Justice SJ Mukhopadhaya had asked the joint lenders forum to deposit the sale proceeds in a separate escrow account. It also directed the parties to cooperate with the execution of sale deeds if SBI intends to.

The appellate tribunal was hearing Reliance Infratel’s appeal against the order of the Mumbai bench of the NCLT, restraining them from disposing of its assets in favour of Reliance Jio. Later in the day, SBI also filed an appeal in the NCLAT, supporting Reliance Infratel. Reliance Jio has emerged as the highest bidder for RCom Consolidated’s assets.