Supreme Court Notifies MS Dhoni of Arbitration Proceedings Against Amrapali

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• Jul 25, 2022 | Sourav Boruah

Digital Desk: On Monday, the Supreme Court issued a stay of the
arbitral proceedings that former India captain M. S. Dhoni had started against
the Amrapali group of enterprises, which is no longer in business and for which
the cricketer served as the brand ambassador.

In order to "illegally divert" home buyers' money,
Amrapali Group entered into "sham agreements" with Rhiti Sports
Management Pvt Ltd (RSMPL), which promotes the brand of Dhoni, according to the
forensic auditors appointed by the Supreme Court. From 2009 to 2015, RSMPL
received payments totaling Rs 42.22 crore.

Dhoni filed a petition with the Delhi High Court, which on
October 16, 2019, appointed Veena Birbal, a former judge there, as the sole
arbitrator to settle the business dispute between the player and the real
estate company.

The court-appointed receiver on Monday informed a panel made up
of justices UU Lalit and Bela M Trivedi about the ongoing arbitration processes
between Dhoni and the defunct real estate enterprises and the challenges he
would face in pursuing them.

In the order, the court stated that it had taken cognizance of
the issues in order to protect the interests of the home buyers and had
appointed a court receiver to oversee the timely completion of housing projects
and the distribution of units to the buyers.

"Given these, it would be very challenging for the receiver
to handle and defend such lawsuits. The Amrapali group of firms cannot be
expected to be represented by the former management or anybody else before the
learned sole arbitrator, "ruled the bench.

The court gave the cricketer notice and asked Justice Birbal to
"hold her hands" and stop the arbitration.

Dhoni filed a petition with the Supreme Court in April 2019
asking for protection of his ownership rights over a more than
5,500-square-foot penthouse he reserved in an Amrapali Group project more than
ten years prior.

Dhoni received a sizable sum of money from the real estate
company in exchange for serving as its brand ambassador, according to attorney
M. L. Lahoty, who is also involved in the case. "We had at that stage
argued that the amount was to be recovered," he said, adding that
"the issue of retrieving of money is going on in the apex court." The
apex court has been keeping an eye on several housing developments being
constructed by the NBCC in place of the defunct real estate business.

By cancelling Amrapali Group's registration under the real
estate code RERA and evicting it from desirable properties in the NCR by
removing land leases, the top court gave errant builders the boot for betraying
the faith placed in them by homebuyers.

Anil Kumar Sharma, Shiv Priya, and Ajay Kumar, the former
group directors of Amrapali, are currently incarcerated per the ruling of the
supreme court.

More than 42,000 Amrapali Group home buyers were relieved by
the court's decision to order the Enforcement Directorate to investigate
allegations of money laundering by real estate agents.