In Brief
Ericsson filed three contempt petitions against Reliance Communications and its group companies for failing to pay INR 550 crore as settled in court-approved settlement and NCLAT order. The Supreme Court found the companies guilty of willful contempt: they gave undertakings falsely conditioning payment on asset sales, when court orders mandated unconditional payment within fixed timelines. A January 2019 letter proved they had capacity to pay but wilfully refused. The Court rejected defenses of inability and held the undertakings breached both the court's orders and undertakings' own false premises. Punishment ordered: payment of INR 453 crore within four weeks with three months imprisonment for chairmen in default, plus INR 1 crore fine per company with one month imprisonment for non-payment.
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