SC to Raymond owner: Give Juhu mansion to Kolkata kin

NEW DELHI: A property dispute between family members of a big business house got an extraordinary hearing in the Supreme Court on Sunday , which under CJI J S Khehar has time and again refused early hearing to pensioners and other property litigants.

Holding that litigative character of corporate houses run like “wild tiger“ which should be tamed soon, Justices Misra and A M Khanwilkar held a special Sunday bench to adjudicate a dispute in the Singhania group and directed Raymond owner Vijaypat Singhania and his son Gautam to hand over their luxury Juhu bungalow to the family's Kolkata branch, as per a 2008 arbitration award. Three Singhania family oups ­­ Mumbai, Kolkata groups ­­ Mumbai, Kolkata and Kanpur ­­ have been locked in prolonged litigation over shares in ancest ral property despite the arbitration award splitting it three-ways. As per the award, the Kan pur group was to hand over possession of four properties to Vijaypat-led Mumbai group, which in turn was to hand over the Juhu bungalow to the Kolkata group.

But Vijaypat refused to part with the bungalow saying he had not got his share of property from the Kanpur group.

The court passed an interim order directing the Kolkata group to deposit Rs 20 crore with the SC registry and asked the Mumbai group to hand over the Juhu bungalow, worth Rs 90 crore, to the Kolkata group by May 6. The bench passed the order on an appeal filed by Gautam Singhania, challenging a Bombay high court order directing him to vacate the bungalow.

Counsel for the Kolkata group, said their client was only interested in taking over the Juhu property and argued that the Mumbai group could not simply refuse to give it.

They said the Kolkata group had already deposited Rs 46 crore as per the settlement, hence there was no justification in it being denied possession of the Juhu bungalow.

The court also issued notice to the Kanpur group and posted the case for hearing on May 8. It directed transfer of execution proceedings pending before the court of district judge in Kanpur to itself.