Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Monday ruled in favour of siblings Sameer Hiremath and Pallavi Swadi, who pleaded the court to allow them to include the promoter shares of listed Kalyani Group companies, along with other assets, into their ongoing inheritance suit against their mother, uncles and cousins.
The siblings, children of Sugandha Hiremath, had moved the civil court in Pune in 2024 against their mother, uncles Baba Kalyani and Gaurishankar Kalyani, and three cousins, to get their share of inheritance from the Annappa N. Kalyani Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and Neelkanth A Kalyani HUF.
Annappa was the great-grandfather of the siblings and the founder of the Kalyani Group. Neelkanth was his son, and the father of Baba, Gaurishankar and Sugandha.
As part of the suit, the Hiremath siblings included several properties, which they claim were purchased with the money from the HUFs, and thus rightfully belong to the HUFs rather than individuals.
Later, they sought to amend their petition to include more assets into their suit, including the promoter shares of two listed companies of the Kalyani Group—Bharat Forge Ltd and Kalyani Steels Ltd—which have a combined market capitalization of over ₹70,000 crore.
The siblings also sought restraint against the voting rights in respect of the promoter shares in these companies, which they allege were acquired from the funds of HUF.
However, the Pune civil court rejected their appeal to amend their suit to include these assets. The siblings then moved the Bombay High Court with a specific appeal to allow them to amend their suit. The high court ruled in their favour on Monday.
A spokesperson for Kalyani Group dismissed this as a mere procedural development.
“The order is purely procedural and reflects settled law permitting a party to seek relief. It grants no substantive relief to the Hiremaths in relation to voting rights or property, as is being suggested,” the spokesperson said in an email in response to Mint’s queries.
“All such issues will be decided by the Court after hearing both sides. Portraying this routine procedural order as a substantive win is misleading and misrepresents the true scope of the Court’s directions,” the spokesperson added.
The ruling comes at a time when industrialist Baba Kalyani and his sister Sugandha Hiremath are embroiled in a protracted legal dispute over ownership of the promoter shares of listed chemicals company Hikal Ltd, which has a market capitalization of just under ₹3,000 crore.
