Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas represented Pigeon Education Technology India in a Writ Petition challenging Seizure Orders issued by the ED

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas represented Pigeon Education Technology India in a Writ Petition challenging Seizure Orders issued by the ED

Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas represented Pigeon Education Technology India Private Limited (Pigeon) in a Writ Petition challenging Seizure Orders issued by the Directorate of Enforcement for alleged violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act, 1999 whereby Pigeon’s Bank Accounts had been seized.

Pigeon is an Ed Tech Company that provides online education to students of Class 1 to 11 (CBSE and ICSE) under two brands – Oda Class and Creta Class.

Pigeon filed a Writ Petition challenging the Seizure Orders and the freezing of its bank accounts, and sought permission to operate its bank accounts without interference, on a number of grounds including (i) that no offences under the FEMA were made out, (ii) that the ED had failed to consider the various documents filed by Pigeon to show that the foreign remittances were legitimate, and (iii) that Pigeon ought to be permitted to operate its accounts to meet its operating expenses pending final adjudication by the ED.

After hearing the parties at length, over several weeks, the High Court was pleased to allow the Petition in part. The Seizure Orders were set aside, and Pigeon has been permitted to operate its accounts and use the monies that were seized to pay all statutory dues, without providing any security; and to further make payments in respect of other expenses upon providing appropriate security in that respect.

Pigeon was led by Aditya Sondhi, Sr Advocate instructed by Karan Joseph (Partner); Pravardhan Urs (Senior Associate) and Dushyanth Narayanan (Associate).