Good Afternoon Speakasians,

Much has happened since my last update of 3^rd July, 2012 and I am duty bound to report and explain the happenings. I will also in this update try to summarise the entire SAOL matter as it is poised as of today.

In my last update I had reported that WP3611/2011 had been adjourned to 18^th July, 2012.

Herein below is the status of all matters related to SAOL:

· The Company SLP’s 7509, 7510/2011 filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court in appeal against the orders of the Hyderabad High Court, have been clubbed together and are being heard together. These matters were to come up for hearing on the 5^th of July, 2012.

Allow me to take you back in time to give you a background of the matter, on the earlier date i.e. 27^th April, 2012 the Hon’ble Supreme Court ordered thus:

“Perused the letter. In view of the request made by learned counsel for the respondents, four weeks' time is granted for filing the counter affidavit”.

In simple words, the Hon’ble Judge had accepted the request of the lawyer of the AP State, and allowed them 4 weeks to file their reply, and the matter was listed on 5^th July, 2012 i.e. after almost 9 weeks. We Speakasians have come to realize that none of the agencies file their Affidavits on time, because it seems they have nothing substantial to put on paper under oath. Once again the AP State proved the above contention of us Speakasians and it was not ready to file any Affidavit.

The court on 5^th July, 2012 ordered thus:

“Perused the letter. In view of the request made by learned counsel for respondents, four weeks' time, as a last chance, is granted for filing the additional documents”.

The court was pleased to record that this adjournment at the request of the Respondents i.e. the state of AP was the last chance to file their counter affidavit. It will be interesting to see what the state cooks up on the next date i.e. 9^th August, 2012.

· The hopes of a large number of people were fixed on the Bombay High Court listing of 7^th August, 2012 when the Company WP/3210, 3211/2011 was to come up for hearing.

These hopes sky rocketed as the matter was listed “For Final Disposal”. Dear Speakasians, “Final Disposal” is a stage in the legal process like “Pre Admission”, “Admission” etc, and this does not mean that the matter will be disposed off on the first hearing itself.
It can happen, but is not assured, the final disposal happens only when the Hon’ble Court in its wisdom feels and is assured that everything material and related to the case has been brought on record. Based on the submissions of all parties the Hon’ble Judge goes on to “dispose” the matter.

The website of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court now shows the matter listed for 7^th August, 2012. This is a procedural issue and nobody can do anything about this.

· We came to realize that the Company SAOL had filed a Writ in the original side of the Bombay High Court vide Lodging Number WPL/1695/2012 as of the morning of 12^th July. This matter is before the REGISTRAR (OS)/PROTHONOTARY & SR. MASTER under “Pre-Admission” status.

We will have to wait till the matter is finally allotted to a bench/court and the first hearing date fixed. I suppose it should happen over the next one week.

I wish to remind all Speakasians that last year in July, 2011 the Company had preferred a WRIT WP/1396/2011, against RBI, being aggrieved by the impugned “Cautionary Circular” dated 23^rd May, 2011.
This Writ was filed on 7^th July, 2011 and the matter was disposed off on 14^th July, 2011, within a matter of 7 days.

While disposing off the said Writ the Hon’ble Justice passed an order and I reproduce the relevant part as under:

“We accordingly dispose of this Petition by permitting the Petitioners to place a representation on the record of the Chief General Manager of the Reserve Bank of India who had issued the circular dated 23 May 2011. In the event that such a representation is made, we would expect the Reserve Bank of India to take a decision in accordance with law. The Reserve Bank of India may furnish an opportunity to the Petitioners to explain the contents of the representation in a meeting which may be convened for that purpose.

The Petition is accordingly disposed of”.

I suppose that the present WRIT WP/1695/2012 is a follow up on the order of the Hon’ble Bombay High Court dated 14^th July, 2012. It is a sad commentary of matters, that a premier institution like the RBI, could drag its feet for such a long time, not caring for the livelihoods of lakhs of panelists. It would not be out of place to remind this wonderful family of Speakasians, that the Company had informed us that they had made the representation to RBI sometime in September, 2011, and followed up by submitting all documents as required by the RBI.