NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected industrialist Anil Ambani’s petitions challenging a Bombay High Court order that permitted banks to continue proceedings to classify accounts of Reliance Communications Ltd as fraudulent. A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, allowed Ambani to pursue his case before the high court’s single judge bench concerning the show cause notices issued by banks.
Information was available with The Chenab Times that the apex court directed the single judge bench to expedite the decision on Ambani’s plea against these notices. The Supreme Court’s order came while hearing three separate appeals filed by Ambani. He had contested a February 23 order from a division bench of the Bombay High Court, which had previously overturned an interim order by a single judge. That interim order had halted proceedings initiated against Ambani and Reliance Communications for classifying their bank accounts as fraudulent.
The division bench had ruled in favour of appeals lodged by three public sector banks – Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, and Bank of Baroda – along with the auditor firm BDO India LLP. These appeals challenged a December 2025 interim order issued by the single bench. The single judge’s earlier order had stayed all current and future actions by the named banks. At that time, the single bench had cited that the banks’ actions were based on a flawed forensic audit and contravened mandatory guidelines set by the Reserve Bank of India.
Anil Ambani had initially approached the single judge bench to contest show-cause notices from Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, and Bank of Baroda. These notices aimed to declare his and Reliance Communications’ accounts as fraudulent. The proceedings before the Supreme Court and the Bombay High Court revolve around the legal validity of these banks’ attempts to classify accounts as fraudulent and the subsequent procedural steps.
The Supreme Court’s decision to dismiss Ambani’s pleas signifies that the process initiated by the banks to label the accounts as fraudulent can now proceed under the supervision of the high court’s single judge. This development is a significant step in the ongoing legal battle between the banks and Ambani’s company concerning alleged financial irregularities and the classification of their banking relationships. The case highlights the complexities of corporate insolvency and the legal frameworks governing the classification of financial accounts as fraudulent, especially involving large corporate entities.
The initial interim order by the single judge had been a temporary reprieve for Ambani, asserting that the banks’ actions were based on a legally unsound forensic audit and violated regulatory norms. However, the division bench’s intervention allowed the banks to pursue their claims, a decision that has now been upheld by the apex court’s refusal to interfere further, directing the matter back to the single judge for a swift resolution.
The Chenab Times News Desk