Edtech firm Think and Learn Private Ltd, owner of Byju’s, on Thursday said neither the company’s founder and CEO Raveendran Byju nor any other board member will attend the extraordinary general meeting called by some select investors.
Shareholders at Byju’s are set to vote on Friday on a resolution brought by some investors to oust founder CEO Raveendran and his family members over alleged “mismanagement and failures”.
Byju’s has called the EGM “procedurally invalid” and contractually in contravention of the company’s article of association and shareholder’s agreement.
“Byju Raveendran or any other board member will not attend this invalid EGM. This means the EGM, if it is still summoned, will not have the required quorum and cannot proceed to discuss or vote on the agenda.
“As custodians of Byju’s, it is the responsibility of the founders to respect the established procedures of law and protect the company’s integrity,” a Byju’s spokesperson said.
However, the outcome of the vote at the EGM will not be applicable until March 13, when the Karnataka High Court will next hear Raveendran’s plea challenging the move by certain investors.
Lookout notice
On the eve of a special EGM seeking his ouster, the ED has barred Byju Raveendran
from leaving the country amid reports that he is in Dubai with plans to fly to Singapore.
The enforcement directorate upgraded its Look Out Circular (LC) against Raveendran, the founder and CEO of Byju’s, concerning a FEMA probe, seeking to stop him from going abroad.
The earlier such alert meant that immigration authorities had to just intimate the agency about his movements through various ports.
Official sources said that the over-a-year-old LC was revised sometime back in light of investors’ concerns and ongoing adjudication of a FEMA contravention case against Raveendran and some others.
Byju’s did not comment on the development.
The ED has asked the Bureau of Immigration to upgrade the LC against Raveendran so that he is not allowed to go abroad from any Indian land, air or land port before the investigating officer (IO) of the case is informed.
Under the new LC, it will be the decision of the IO to either stop his foreign travel
or allow him to do so after asking some questions and getting assurances, the sources said.
The LC in operation till now against Raveendran only stipulated the immigration authorities to inform the ED about his entry and exit from the country.
The agency, in November last year, had slapped a foreign exchange violation show cause notice of more than Rs 9,300 crore against Byju’s and Raveendran.
The ED spelt out multiple grounds for charging the start-up and its chief promoters that included charges of “failing” to submit documents of imports against advance remittances made outside India.
