New Independent Directors Appointed By Zeel

Venkata Ramana Murthy Pinisetti, Shishir Babubhai Desai and Uttam Prakash Agarwal have been appointed as Independent Directors of Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) with effect from December 17, 2023. They have been appointed as additional Directors in the category of Independent Directors of the company. The appointment of the three new Independent Directors to the Zee Board follows the insufficient votes received by Vivek Mehra and Sasha Mirchandani during the appointment process.

Murthy Pinisetti, who serves as the head of the employment and labour law practice at Economic Laws Practice (ELP), is a lawyer, author, and academic practitioner specialising in human resources and organisation development domains.

Shishir Desai, with 44 years of experience, is a solicitor registered with the Bombay Incorporated Law Society. Additionally, he is a non-practicing solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales and a member of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI).

Uttam Prakash Agarwal, a Chartered Accountant, brings over three decades of experience in taxation, finance, and restructuring. He has worked in various areas, including statutory audits, income leakage audits, concurrent audits, and stock audits of public sector banks appointed by the RBI.

Earlier this week, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on December 15 refused to grant a stay on the merger of Zee Entertainment and Sony. The tribunal, however, issued notice in the plea and listed the case for hearing on January 8. Axis Finance and IDBI Bank had challenged the merger in the NCLAT.