India's telecom department has asked the Registrar of Companies in Delhi and Mumbai to "withhold any further action" related to Bharti Airtel Ltd.'s proposed acquisition of the consumer mobile business of Tata Teleservices Ltd. as it is yet to give written approval to the deal, The Times of India reported Aug. 21.
The country's communications ministry is also preparing to challenge the deal in the apex court on multiple grounds, including the method the companies adopted to announce the merger based only on an order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal, the report said, citing sources.
The merger is reportedly in "contravention" to certain conditions mentioned in the merger clause, according to the ministry's Director for Access Services, Akhilesh Kumar Trivedi's communication to the RoCs.
A Bharti Airtel spokesperson told the news outlet that both parties operationalized the merger after the tribunal's order, directing the telecom department to take the merger on record, and approval of the schemes of arrangement by the National Company Law Tribunal of Delhi and Mumbai." The spokesperson said the department was duly notified of the same.
