NEW DELHI, Apr 16: The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed the pleas of industrialist Anil Ambani challenging a Bombay High Court order that permitted banks to continue proceedings against him and Reliance Communications Ltd for classifying their bank accounts as fraud.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi, however, allowed Ambani to pursue his case before the high court’s single-judge bench against the banks’ show-cause notices seeking to declare the accounts as fraudulent.
The bench also requested the single-judge bench to expedite hearing of Ambani’s plea against the notices issued by three banks.
The apex court passed the order while hearing three separate petitions filed by Ambani challenging a February 23 decision of a division bench of the Bombay High Court.
The division bench had earlier set aside a single-judge bench interim order that had stayed proceedings to classify the bank accounts of Ambani and Reliance Communications Ltd as fraud.
It had allowed appeals filed by three public sector banks and audit firm BDO India LLP against a December 2025 interim order passed by the single-judge bench.
The earlier single-judge bench order had restrained all present and future action by Indian Overseas Bank, IDBI Bank, and Bank of Baroda, observing that the action was based on a disputed forensic audit and allegedly violated Reserve Bank of India guidelines.
Ambani had separately challenged the show-cause notices issued by the three banks seeking to classify his and Reliance Communications’ accounts as fraud. (Agencies)
