MUMBAI: The Supreme Court has appointed L Nageswara Rao, a retired apex court judge, to mediate the family dispute over more than Rs 1 lakh crore in assets between Bharat Forge chairman Baba Kalyani and his sister Sugandha Hiremath.The court gave the parties two weeks to attempt a settlement. It listed the matter for a further hearing after that period and told the Bombay high court to pause Baba’s bid to have Sugandha’s lawsuit thrown out while mediation proceeds.The order follows a May 4 Bombay high court ruling that refused to send the dispute to mediation, after Baba declined to take part. The high court found no realistic chance of settlement, pointing to the failure of earlier attempts, including one before the Supreme Court and another at the Pune district court.“You may have said no to mediation earlier, but when Court 1 of the Supreme Court requests, will you not heed it?” Chief Justice of India Surya Kant told Baba’s lawyers. “Sometimes ego is more than assets. I am sure mediation will succeed,” he said.Sugandha moved the high court in 2023 to enforce a June 1994 family arrangement requiring Baba-controlled entities to transfer their Hikal shares to her, which would increase her family’s stake from 35% to 69% and grant them majority control. Baba has denied any such arrangement was ever finalised.The Hikal dispute sits within a wider family conflict also involving brother Gaurishankar Kalyani and the next generation.In 2024, Sugandha’s children Sameer Hiremath and Pallavi Swadi filed a separate suit in the Pune district court contending that promoter holdings in Bharat Forge and Kalyani Steels, along with other land and jewellery assets, belong to the Kalyani family’s joint estate, and sought their own share of that estate.
