The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Tuesday issued notice to Culver Max (earlier Sony Pictures Network India on a plea by Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEEL) asking for direction on the merger of the two media houses.

The Mumbai-bench of the tribunal gave directions to Sony asking the media giant to reply to ZEEL’s petition within two weeks and will hear the matter on March 12.

ZEEL counsel Janak Dwarkadas said that since NCLT had approved the merger, it has the jurisdiction to hear petitions on the implementation of the merger.

Darius Khambata, representing Sony, stated that the media giant will file an application questioning the maintainability of ZEEL's plea to enforce the merger as it has filed against a plea questioning the maintainability of an application by ZEEL's shareholder Mad Men Film Ventures.

On January 30, Mad Men Film Ventures had filed a petition requesting both ZEEL and Sony to implement the merger as it was approved by the NCLT in August 2023.

On this application, the tribunal had directed Sony to file a reply.

The tribunal will hear both these matters on March 12.

In January, Sony Group Corp called off the merger with ZEEL following a stalemate over who will lead the merged entity. This merger could have otherwise created a USD 10 billion media enterprise in the country.

The deal stipulated that the merger was to be completed before December 21, 2023, including regulatory and other approvals with a grace period of one month to complete the transaction.

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