The Bombay High Court will hear the petition filed by T Rowe Price International against the other shareholders of UTI Mutual Fund on August 13, which is also the day on which the tenure of the current managing director Leo Puri ends.
A division bench headed by Justices R.M. Borde and P.K. Chavan posted the matter to August 13 after T Rowe Price, which has a 26% stake in UTI MF, asked the court to direct the board of the fund house to allow Mr. Puri to continue as the managing director for at least another 12 months.
According to T Rowe Price, government-owned promoters of UTI MF — State Bank of India (SBI), Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), Bank of Baroda (BoB) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) — are not in favour of granting an extension to Mr. Puri even though a successor has not yet been identified.
As per the petition, the board of UTI Trustees approved allowing Mr. Puri to continue for a further 12 months, but independent directors on the board of UTI AMC opposed the decision.
The overseas shareholder also wants the court to direct the other promoters to comply with the new ownership norms for mutual funds that bar one entity from holding more than 10% in more than one AMC.
