Supreme Court Stays Kerala HC Order Summoning Byju's Resolution Professional In Contempt Case Over Sale Of Subsidiaries

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Kerala High Court's orders which had directed issuance of show-cause notices and directed Byju's Resolution Professional Shailendra Ajmera, GLAS Trust representative Sunil Thomas, and Ernst and Young Chairman Rajiv Memani to personally appear before the High Court in contempt proceedings over the sale of Byju's foreign subsidiaries Epic! Creations Inc. and Tangible Play Inc. “In the meantime, operation of the impugned order dated 21.11.2025 passed in IA No. 4 of 2025 in Contempt Case (Civil) No. 1201 of 2025 in OP(C) No. 1187 of 2025 and order dated 27.11.2025 in Contempt Case (Civil) No. 1201 of 2025 in OP (c)No. 1187 of 2025 shall remain stayed”, the Court ordered.A bench of Justice PS Narasimha and Justice Atul Chandrukar issued notice on an appeal filed by Sunil Thomas, authorised representative of GLAS Trust Company LLC – Byju's US lender, against the High Court orders.In a plea by Dubai-based tech company Voizzit Technology Pvt. Ltd. claiming that it owns Epic and Tangible, the High Court had earlier restrained US Chapter 11 Trustee Claudia Springer from alienating the assets of Epic until the Commercial Court, Ernakulam decided an injunction suit filed by Voizzit.On May 27, 2025, the Supreme Court set aside the Kerala High Court's order restraining Springer from selling Epic's assets and directed reconsideration of the matter, noting that the order had been passed without hearing her.On June 4, 2025, the High Court recorded that the sale had already taken place on May 20, 2025 and disposed of the matter as infructuous, noting that the question of staying the sale did not arise once the sale was completed.Voizzit initiated the present contempt proceedings before the High Court alleging that the interim order staying the sale had been violated. Apart from the aforementioned individuals who were summoned, the other respondents named in the contempt case include Riju Raveendran, Managing Director of Think and Learn Pvt. Ltd. (Byju's), Claudia Springer, Sanjay Gupta (Country Head of Google India Pvt. Ltd.), G.S. Arjun Kumar (Country Head of Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd.), Anant Maheshwari (Country Head of Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd.), Tarun Popli (Country Head of Stripe Payment India Pvt. Ltd.), and Ashish Chowdhary (Country Head of Apple India Pvt. Ltd).On November 21, 2025, the High Court allowed addition of further individuals to the contempt case and directed the issuance of show-cause notices to them. Those impleaded were Shailendra Ajmera, Sunil Thomas, Rajiv Memani and three others of Ernst & Young LLP, Ravi Mittal (Chairperson of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India), as well as the Directors of the Serious Fraud Investigation Office and the Central Bureau of Investigation. On November 27, 2025, the High Court granted one week's time to Shailendra Ajmera, Sunil Thomas and Rajiv Memani to file their counter and directed them to appear in person on December 5, 2025. These orders are under challenge in the present SLP.Case no. – Petition for Special Leave to Appeal (C) Nos. 35060 and 35061/2025Case Title – Sunil Thomas Authorised Representative of GLAS Trust Company LLC v. Voizzit Technology Pvt Ltd & Ors.Click Here To Read/Download Order

Supreme Court Stays Kerala HC Order Summoning Byju's Resolution Professional In Contempt Case Over Sale Of Subsidiaries

Amisha Shrivastava

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