SC backs mediation in Kalyani family feud

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday suggested warring Kalyani siblings to explore mediation to resolve their long-standing dispute related to distribution of ancestral wealth and promoter stakes in listed companies, including flagship Bharat Forge.

The assets are estimated to be worth more than Rs 1 lakh crore.A bench led by Chief Justice Surya Kant asked the parties to “take instructions on mediation” and posted the matter for hearing on July 13.The siblings—Babasaheb N Kalyani, Sugandha Hiremath and Gaurishankar Kalyani—and their children have been engaged in protracted litigation over ancestral wealth with land spanning entire villages, jewellery weighing in kilograms and stakes in listed companies.Multiple litigations are pending before various fora, including suits for partition of joint family assets and probate proceedings.Also read | What Maruti-Suzuki can teach India-JapanChallenging the Bombay High Court’s May 4 decision that refused to send the dispute for mediation, Sugandha and her husband Jaidev Hiremath told the apex court that the HC erred in rejecting their request.

Sughansha in her appeal claimed that her younger brother Gaurishankar Kalyani and wife Rohini also had backed mediation, but the HC rejected it because elder brother and Bharat Forge chairman Babasaheb Kalyani did not accord his consent to the proposal.Sugandha and Jaidev argued that the HC had power to refer disputes to mediation even without the consent of all the parties involved, and said these family disputes were best sorted out through the alternative disputes resolution process.Sugandha and Jaidev moved the HC in 2023 seeking enforcement of a 1994 family agreement.

They wanted the HC to declare the 1994 family arrangement valid, subsisting and binding.

They claimed that as per the arrangement, shares of Hikal Ltd held by Kalyani Investment Co and BF Investment were to be transferred to the couple.

Babasaheb Kalyani questioned the maintainability of the petition.Also read | India's new telecom war may unfold at the roadsideIn 2024, Sugandha also moved the Pune civil court claiming that a Kalyani Hindu undivided family (HUF) had funded the creation of all the group businesses, including Bharat Forge.

Since the seed capital came from the HUF, all the assets of the Kalyani group belonged to it, she claimed, while wanting her share in several moveable and immoveable properties.

These included stakes in 250 companies in which the Kalyani family wealth has been invested.The HC in May refused to order mediation, saying that mediation under the Mediation Act 2023 was purely consensual and could not be directed in the absence of consent of all the parties.

It also noted that earlier mediation attempts had failed and the alternative disputes resolution mechanism was required to be mutual, but in this case, Babasaheb Kalyani and others had opposed mediation. ...