‘We all came with empty hands’: Supreme Court urges settlement in Sunjay Kapur family feud case
The court had earlier appointed former Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud as a mediator in the matter.
Sanjay Kapur’s mother, Rani Kapur, has alleged that a trust was constituted in her name in October 2017 using “forged, fabricated and fraudulent” documents, and that family properties were transferred in its name. (File Photo) The Supreme Court Thursday asked Raghuvanshi Investment Private Limited (RIPL), which holds a significant stake in the estate of Sunjay Kapur, not to proceed with discussions on appointment of new independent directors or change authorised signatories at its board meeting scheduled for May 18, amid the ongoing dispute over the late businessman’s family trust between his mother, Rani Kapur and wife, Priya Kapur.
Urging all parties involved in the dispute to pursue a mediated settlement, a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan added, “We do not propose to say anything further at this point in time. We have already requested the learned mediator to commence mediation. For the present, we request the parties not to do anything which will directly affect mediation proceedings,” the court said.
““We believe that for the present,” the agenda items objected to “may not be discussed in the meeting which is scheduled on May 18, 2026. We would like to examine the progress that takes place in so far as the mediation is concerned?”, the bench said.
The court had earlier appointed former Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud as a mediator in the matter.
On Thursday, the court was hearing a plea by Sunjay’s mother, Rani Kapur, who contended that after the top court on May 7 asked parties to attempt mediation, RIPL issued a notice for a Board of Directors meeting on May 18. She said the agenda for the meeting included the appointment of two new independent directors and tweaks to its authorised bank signatories, and added that this was against the spirit of the SC’s attempt to resolve differences through mediation.
Taking it up, the bench conveyed its displeasure over the developments and pointed out that it had time and again said that it would be in the interest of all parties to put an end to the dispute, as failure to do so would result in a long-drawn battle.
The court also referred to Rani Kapur’s advanced age and added, “There has to be a will to settle the matter”.
“She is an 80-year-old woman already shaken by all this,” Justice Pardiwala said.
Underlining the need for a mediated settlement, he added, “sometimes you have to compromise a little. What are you going to gain at the end of it all! We all came with empty hands, and we have to go with empty hands. All that we can carry is our soul. We came with our soul and soul is the only thing we are going to carry”.
The bench also advised the warring sides to “not go before the mediator with a heavy heart just because the court has pushed us. Each one of you try.”
Appearing for Rani Kapur, Senior Advocate Navin Pahwa contended that the May 18 meeting was aimed at wresting control from his client.
However, Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, who represented RIPL, said the proposed meeting was only in conformity with RBI guidelines for Non-Banking Financial Companies, but the bench said it can wait.
The court also asked the RBI not to insist on the statutory compliance for now.
Share
