Telenor, Unitech in Company Law Board over JV row

A visitor rests under a Telenor Group sign at the GSMA Mobile World Conference in Barcelona February 18, 2009.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Norway's Telenor ASA said it has approached India's Company Law Board to prevent any "wrongful obstruction" of its effort to secure its Indian investments, after its mobile phone joint venture partner opposed its plan to scrap the partnership and migrate the business to a new company.

Unitech said in a separate statement that it had also approached the Company Law Board -- a quasi-judiciary body that rules on corporate matters -- to safeguard its interests in the joint venture.

The joint venture's 22 telecoms licences are among the 122 licences that were ordered to be revoked by the country's Supreme Court earlier this month amid a probe into a scandal-tainted 2008 sale.

Telenor, which had bought into the JV after the licences were granted, last week accused Unitech of "fraud and misrepresentation" and said it would form a new company with a new partner. Unitech had termed Telenor's move as "shocking" and that Telenor cannot terminate the agreement unilaterally.

Unitech said on Monday it would resist any "mala fide" and "unilateral" action by Telenor, reiterating its allegation that Telenor had been trying to push it out of the joint venture.

The real estate company said it filed the petition with the Company Law Board seeking to enforce its rights and to prevent Telenor from taking full control over the JV's business including its assets.

Telenor owns 67.25 percent of the joint venture, which operates under the Uninor brand. Unitech holds the remainder. Uninor has been among the most aggressive of India's newer telecom companies with nearly 40 million customers.

(Reporting by Devidutta Tripathy; Editing by Aradhana Aravindan)