TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2014 (5) TMI 749
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....he course of action which needs to be adopted, as agreed between the parties, without going into the nitty gritty of the issues involved. With this introduction we describe hereinbelow the nature of the dispute in these petitions. SLP(Crl) No. 6873 of 2010 2. When the two parties joined together for collaborative business venture, it is but natural that the relationship starts with mutual trust and faith in each other. At the time of fostering such a relationship, they expect that with joint efforts in the proposed business venture, they would be able to achieve unparallel milestones, which would otherwise be impossible with their individual efforts. The joining together is with the aim of making one plus one as eleven and not two. However, over a period of time, if due to unfortunate and unforeseen circumstances/ events, the relationship becomes bitter and the two collaborative partners fall apart, it results in a position where one minus one is not only reduced to zero but becomes negative. That perhaps is the story of the present litigation and if the disputes are not resolved early, either by adjudicatory process or amicably between the parties, the negative factor will keep ....
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....sp; (d) Khosla's would sell their entire shareholding in MRL to Mr. Vikram Bakshi. 5. For some reasons (both the groups have their own version in this behalf with blame game against each other) the project did not kick off and ran into rough weather with the sowing of the seeds of mutual distrust and lack of faith. It led to filing of a petition under Section 397 and 398 of the Companies Act by Ms. Sonia Khosla against Bakshi Group, though in that petition she impleaded some of the members of Khosla family also as respondents (may be performa respondents). Her allegation was that she held 49% shares in the Company which had been further reduced to 36% and that the affairs of the Company were being managed in a manner oppressive to the minority shareholders. In this petition she admitted that majority shareholding was with Mr. Vikram Bakshi. 6. The relief prayed for in the said petition, inter alia, was for passing an order for removal of the petitioners from the Board of Directors of the Company. Various miscellaneous applications came to be filed in the aforesaid petition. Notably among those was an application under Section 8 of the Arbitration....
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....008 passed by CLB continued to operate. It is at that stage, the litigation started taking a different turn altogether. 11. Ms. Sonia Khosla filed an application under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (Cr.PC) before the CLB alleging that forged documents were filed before the CLB. However, while this application is still pending before the CLB, in October, 2008 she filed another application under Section 340 Cr. PC in the High Court of Delhi on the same very grounds which were taken in the application before CLB. She sought prosecution of the petitioners under Section 195(i)(b)(ii) read with Section 340 Cr. PC alleging that the minutes of the AGM of the Company allegedly held on 30.9.2006 were forged. The reason given therein to approach the High Court was that she was forced to file the petition in the High Court as there was a complete inaction on the part of CLB on her application before it. She sought to rest her application on sub-section 2 of Section 340 Cr. PC for its maintainability in the High Court. In this application orders dated 15.2.2010 are passed by the High Court and that order is the subject matter of challenge in the present proceedings. As can be e....
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....e delay is condoned there is no appeal in the eyes of law and, therefore, the High Court could not have passed interim orders. 13. Though the aforesaid two SLP's are the main proceedings before us, even in these proceedings Contempt Petitions and petitions under Section 340 Cr. PC are filed. Moreover, narration of the events disclosed above would demonstrate that main proceedings are the Co. Petition filed by Ms. Sonia Khosla under Section 397-98 of the Companies Act before the CLB where issues relating to the affairs of the Company are to be thrashed out. However, from this on case, number of other proceedings have sprung up. In fact, as of today more than 80 cases are pending between the parties. Most of these do not even touch the main dispute as they are in the nature of either Contempt Petitions, (Civil or Criminal) or petitions under Section 340 Cr. PC etc. 14. As stated in the beginning of this order, though it was going to be collaborative efforts of the two groups in developing a dream project and for certain reasons the parties have drifted apart, one legal action which was triggered with the filing of the Company Petition by Ms. Sonia Khosla before the CLB, has tod....
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....relationship, mediation can build and improve their relationships. To preserve, develop and improve communication, build bridges of understanding, find out options for settlement for mutual gains, search unobvious from obvious, dive underneath a problem and dig out underlying interests of the disputing parties, preserve and maintain relationships and collaborative problem solving are some of the fundamental advantages of mediation. Even in those cases where relationships have turned bitter, mediation has been able to produce positive outcomes, restoring the peace and amity between the parties. 17. There is always a difference between winning a case and seeking a solution. Via mediation, the parties will become partners in the solution rather than partners in problems. The beauty of settlement through mediation is that it may bring about a solution which may not only be to the satisfaction of the parties and, therefore, create a win win situation, the outcome which cannot be achieved by means of judicial adjudication. Thus, life as well as relationship goes on with Mediation for all the parties concerned and thus resulting into peace and harmony in the society. While providing sati....
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....s on its meaning, such as in the canonical cases of the late-twentieth century... For many years now, I have suggested that there are other components to the achievement of justice. Most notably, I refer to the process by which we seek justice (party participation and empowerment, consensus rather than compromise or command) and the particular types of outcomes that might help to achieve it (not binary win-lose solutions, but creative, pie-expanding or even shared solutions)." Justice in mediation also encompasses external developments, beliefs about human nature and legal regulation. Various jurists are drawn to mediation in the belief that litigation and adversarial warring are not the only, or the best ways to approach conflict. And how optimistically and skeptically mediators assess the capabilities of individual parties and institutional actors to construct fair outcomes from the raw material of human conduct. Mediation ensures a just solution acceptable to all the parties to dispute thereby achieving 'win-win' situation. It is only mediation that puts the parties in control of both their disputes and its resolution. It is mediation through which the parties can comm....
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....n and to resolve all those cases. However, we feel sad about the state of affairs. The dispute which has arisen, out of MOU/ collaboration agreement between the parties is not unique or unprecedented. Such type of differences do arise. Day in and day out there are litigations of the kind which is filed in the CLB by Ms. Sonia Khosla. However, what is unprecedented is the monstrous proportions which this litigation has assumed with the multiplication of proceedings between the parties today which arose out of one petition before the CLB. 21. In fact, though the learned Senior Counsel for the parties had argued the matters before us at length on the previous occasions, at the stage of conclusions of the arguments, the learned Senior Counsel Mr. Cama appearing for Khosla Group suggested for an early decision of the Company Petition before the CLB as a better alternative so that at least main dispute between the parties is adjudicated upon at an early date. He was candid in his submission that the issues which are subject matter of these two Special Leave Petitions and arise out of the proceedings in the High Court, have their origin in the orders dated 31.1.2008, which is an interim ....