Indiabulls Housing shares close 5 pc lower amid reports of PIL against co

Shares of Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd (IBHFL) on Friday ended 5 per cent lower amid reports that a public interest litigation has been filed against the company and its promoters. The scrip closed at Rs 425.75 on the BSE, down 4.95 per cent. During the day, it dropped 9.31 per cent to Rs 406.20, its 52-week low.

At the NSE, shares declined 4.56 per cent to close at Rs 427.50. In terms of traded volume, 22.10 lakh shares were traded on the BSE, while over three crore shares traded on the NSE during the day.

Shares of DLF also fell 3.20 per cent to close at Rs 154.20 on the BSE. It declined 3.11 per cent to end the day at Rs 154.40 on the NSE. In a filing to the stock exchanges, DLF said it has come to notice that a draft of a purported Public Interest Litigation (PIL) is circulating on social media which makes certain unfounded allegations in respect of the relationship between DLF group and Indiabulls group, more specifically IBHFL.

DLF has had financing transactions with the Indiabulls group since 2011 and all such transactions were completely on an arms length basis, it said. "We also emphatically deny any allegations of any other irregularity in any aspect of our past relationship with Indiabulls," the filing added.

In a filing to the bourses, IBHFL said it has come to its notice through media reports that a PIL has been filed against the company and its promoters in the Delhi High Court. "The petition has not yet been filed in the High Court as per the website records of Delhi High Court, but has been leaked in the social media with malicious intent and vested interests to create turbulence in the stock price of the company and fulfil ulterior motives," the company said.

Instead of going to the right forums of various regulatory agencies and making the complaint where eight similar complaints with similar allegations were already filed under various individual names in July 2019, the petitioners have deliberately chosen the route of PIL, the filing said. This has been done to attract attention and play into the hands of blackmailers and corporate rivals at a sensitive time of merger process of Indiabulls Housing Finance and Lakshmi Vilas Bank, the filing added.

Further, the company said that for the past three months, it is undergoing various inspections and scrutiny of all the different regulators as part of the merger process. "The company is determined to fight out the petitioners in the court," it added.