A plea in the Delhi high court has challenged the scheme of amalgamation of Lakshmi Vilas Bank with Development Bank of Singapore (DBS), contending that its shareholders have been “left in the lurch” and the Centre and the Reserve Bank have failed to protect their interests.

The petition was listed before a bench of Chief Justice D. N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on January 13, but was adjourned to February 19 after the bench was told that the RBI has moved a plea in the Supreme Court to transfer all pleas against the amalgamation to the Bombay high court.

The petition in the Delhi high court has been filed by lawyer Sudhir Kathpalia, who was also a shareholder in Lakshmi Vilas Bank (LVB) and lost his 20,000 shares in the company because of the amalgamation scheme.

Kathpalia has sought quashing of the clause in the scheme which states that from the date of merger, “the entire amount of the paid-up share capital and reserves and surplus, including the balances in the share/securities premium account of the transferor bank, shall stand written off”.

Under the scheme, DBS was not required to give any shares to the LVB investors in return.