New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday appointed former Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud as the mediator to resolve the family dispute between late businessman Sunjay Kapur’s wife and mother over the ownership of the RK Family Trust, which holds a stake in automotive component manufacturer Sona Comstar.
A bench comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan passed the order after all the parties agreed to mediation.
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“It’s a family dispute; let it be confined among the family only, the endeavour on their part should be to get the disputes resolved at the earliest. It should not be a source of entertainment,” the apex court said. All the parties should participate in the mediation proceedings with an “open mind”, it said.
The court also requested the parties not to make public statements or post anything about the family dispute on social media. While listing the matter for further hearing in the first week of August, Justice Pardiwala said the bench would await the mediator’s preliminary report before proceeding further. The top court during the last hearing on April 27 suggested that the parties resolve the issue through mediation.
The apex court is hearing 80-year-old Rani Kapur’s plea seeking directions to restrain her daughter-in-law, Priya Kapur, and others from interfering with the estate, assets and related affairs under the trust. She has sought status quo with respect to alienation of trust properties, even as she claims to be the sole beneficiary and legatee of the entire estate of her late husband, Surinder Kapur, the Sona Group founder who died in 2015.
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Rani claimed that through a complex web of illegal transactions undertaken by Priya and others, in collusion with her son, all her assets were now vested in the RK Family Trust without her knowledge. She has sought restoration of her entire estate and legacy as it existed prior to the creation of the trust in 2017.
Priya has refuted the claims and alleged that Rani had abused the process of the court, constituted a fraud upon the court by concealing and suppressing material facts and documents, and knowingly made false statements.
The Delhi High Court on April 30 in an interim order restrained Priya, the third wife of late Sunjay Kapur, from alienating, transferring and pledging assets left behind by the industrialist.
