Kapur family dispute: Supreme Court halts director appointments at RIPL
Mumbai/New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday quashed key agenda items proposed for the May 18 board meeting of Raghuvanshi Investment Pvt. Ltd. (RIPL) is a shareholder in the estate of late businessman Sunjay Kapur.
A two-judge bench of Justice JB Padriwala and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order, putting an end to the important issues on the proposed agenda, especially the proposals for appointment of additional directors and changes in signature authorities for company bank accounts. The court did not prevent the board meeting from being held.
Proposed May 18 board meeting It includes 33 agenda items covering governance restructuring, RBI compliance, banking transactions and committee appointments. Amid the ongoing dispute between the Kapur family, the Supreme Court directed that agenda items 5, 6 and 25 should not be discussed or acted upon during the mediation proceedings.
These items relate to the appointment of independent directors Kalpesh Krishnakant Avasia and Sumit Chadha and proposed changes in authorized signatories for RIPL’s Kotak Mahindra Bank accounts.
Sunjay Kapur’s mother, Rani Kapur, argued that the proposed changes could alter operational control over controversial family-owned entities.
Mediation move
Senior lawyer Kapil Sibal, representing the ex-wife of the late industrialist Priya KapurHe argued that the board meeting strictly aimed to fulfill the statutory requirements of the RBI through these appointments. However, as the mediation was ongoing, the court ordered the RBI to stay both the appointments and the related compliance processes.
Senior advisors Madhavi Diwan and Navin Pahwa, representing Rani Kapur, said that Priya Kapur had removed the shares of her clients in the companies in which she was the majority shareholder and put the shares in RK Family Trust without informing her.
The Supreme Court had on May 7 referred the dispute to mediation and appointed former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud as mediator, while urging Kapur family members to find an amicable solution to the dispute regarding RK Family Trust.
During the hearing on Thursday, Justice JB Pardiwala warned the parties against prolonging the case and said: “We are making this clear today. If all of you are not interested in mediation then we will not waste any more time, we will hear the matter on merits and finish it.”
Making an emotional call for reconciliation, the judge added: “She (Rani Kapur) is an 80-year-old woman. We all came empty-handed, we have to leave empty-handed. The only thing we carry is our souls. There must be a will to solve the problem. Don’t go slowly before the mediator just because the court forced us. Each of you try.”
The mediation will last two months and the court has requested an interim report before the next hearing on August 6.
disputed legacy
On April 30, Justice Jyoti Singh of the Delhi high court passed an order restraining Priya Kapur from transferring or exchanging her shares in three Indian companies, withdrawing provident fund amounts and disposing of personal assets, including works of art. She was also barred from withdrawing money from several Indian accounts and transferring cryptocurrencies held by her late husband.
The family has been in conflict ever since. Sunjay KapurRani Kapur claimed in September that while their family was grieving Sunjay’s death, his third wife Priya saw it as an opportunity to seize control and usurp the family inheritance. The allegations were eliminated after Priya Kapur was appointed director of Sunjay Kapur’s company, Sona Comstar, following his death.
She claimed that shortly after her son’s death, she was forced to sign documents without being informed of their contents and was also denied access to accounts and important company records.
