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Delhi High Court
Globalbees Brands Private Limited vs Ashutosh Garg And Ors on 16 April, 2026
$~29
* IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI
Date of Decision : 16.04.2026
+ O.M.P.(I) (COMM.) 435/2025, I.A. 29057/2025 (Delay of 11
days in filing the reply by R-1 to R-3), I.A. 10405/2026 (For
Leave to filed and bring on record addl. Documents) & I.A.
10406/2026 (For Exemption from filing a signed and notarized
affidavit)
GLOBALBEES BRANDS PRIVATE LIMITED .....Petitioner
Through: Mr. Jayant Mehta, Senior
Advocate with Mr. Mayank
Mishra, Mr. Kunwar Surya
Pratap and Ms. Mansvini Jain,
Advocates
versus
ASHUTOSH GARG AND ORS ....Respondents
Through: Mr. Samudra Sarangi,
Ms.Shruti Raina, Ms. Riya
Kalra, Mr. Paritosh Tengshe
and Ms. Yoshita Sood,
Advocates
CORAM:
HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE HARISH VAIDYANATHAN
SHANKAR
% JUDGEMENT (ORAL)
HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR, J.
1. The present Petition has been filed under Section 9 of the
Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 19961, seeking the following
reliefs:
"a) Restrain the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3, jointly and severally, from
selling, transferring, pledging, assigning or otherwise encumbering
any shares or creating any third-party interest in their 8054 equity
shares (26% of the paid-up and subscribed capital) in Respondent
Act
No. 4 company, either pursuant to the impugned "Default Drag
Along Rights" notice dated 26.09.2025 or otherwise pending final
resolution of the disputes by arbitration, and direct the Respondents
to maintain status quo of the capital structure of Respondent No. 4;
b) Direct the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 to deposit a sum of INR
23,10,00,000 (Rupees Twenty-Three Crores and Ten Lakhs only)
with this Hon'ble Court or furnish adequate security to the
satisfaction of this Hon'ble Court, as a measure to secure amount
paid in excess to the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 and liable to be
returned to the Petitioner under the Shareholders' Agreement dated
07.12.2021 and Share Purchase Agreement of even date read with
the respective addendums, both, dated 10.12.2021;
c) Direct the Respondent Nos. 1 and 2 to restrain from causing
disruption of business of the Respondent No. 4 in any manner,
whatsoever, and forthwith and comprehensively execute a
complete and structured handover of the Respondent No. 4's
operations, and in particular, provide unhindered and continuing
access to all digital infrastructure, including credentials, passwords,
documents, list of vendors, access to all accounting software,
books of account, statutory filings, server data, inventory logs and
records, systems access, key result areas / key performance
indicators of the employees, and all other physical, electronic and
cloud-based records relating to and/or maintained by the
Respondent No. 4 to enable the Petitioner and its affiliates to
assume full and effective control over the Respondent No. 4;
d) Direct the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 to provide all interim
assistance in the conduction of the forensic audit of the Respondent
No. 4, as approved by the Respondent No. 4's board of directors in
its meeting dated 22.09.2025;
e) Pass an order of mandatory injunction directing the Respondent
Nos. 1 to 3 to preserve all digital and physical records, including
but not limited to warehouse management systems, email accounts,
vendor and tax portals, and restrain them from deleting, destroying,
tampering with any and all records, physical or digital or in any
electronic medium, relating to the operations of the Respondent
No. 4;
f) Pass an order restraining the Respondent Nos. 1 to 3 from acting
in breach of under the non-compete, non-solicit and confidentiality
obligations under the SPA (particularly clauses 11 and 15) and the
SHA (particularly clause 7), and restraining from directly or
indirectly engaging in any competing business, soliciting the
Respondent No. 4's clients, vendors or employees, or misusing any
confidential or proprietary information;
g) Pass interim directions and/or ad-interim ex-parte orders in
terms of prayer clause (a) to (e) above, till the disposal of the
present application;
h) Pass any other or further orders which this Hon'ble Court deems
fit and appropriate in the facts and circumstances of the present
matter."
2. Learned counsel appearing for the parties are ad idem that
instead of adjudicating the present matter on merits, the disputes may
be referred to arbitration by a panel of three learned Arbitrators as has
been set down in the Clause 13.5 of Shareholders' Agreement dated
07.12.20212, which reads as under:
"13.5. GlobalBees and the Promoters shall appoint 1 (one)
arbitrator each and the 2 (two) arbitrators so appointed shall
appoint the third arbitrator who will act as the presiding officer of
the arbitral tribunal."
3. Learned Senior Counsel for the Petitioner has nominated
Hon'ble Mr. Justice V.P. Vaish (Retd.), Former Judge of this Court, as
the Arbitrator on behalf of the Petitioner and learned counsel for the
Respondent has nominated Hon'ble Mr. Justice Badar Durrez Ahmed
(Retd.), former Chief Justice of Hon'ble Jammu & Kashmir High
Court as the Arbitrator on behalf of the Respondent.
4. Accordingly, this Court hereby requests the learned Arbitrators
to ensure that the Presiding Arbitrator be nominated within a period of
10 days from the date of receipt of this Order. Parties are directed to
communicate this Order to the learned Arbitrators.
5. Since the parties have mutually consented to adjudication of
their disputes by way of Arbitration, this Court is of the view that the
commencement of arbitral proceedings to adjudicate the disputes
between the parties should not be unduly delayed. Accordingly, in the
peculiar facts of the present case, the requirement of Section 21 notice
and initiation of separate proceedings under Section 11 of the Act are
Agreement
dispensed with.
6. In terms of the undertaking by the respective counsel, the
parties are requested to take appropriate steps for the constitution of
the learned Arbitral Tribunal in the given period.
7. Once the learned Arbitral Tribunal is constituted, it is requested
to enter upon the reference and adjudicate the disputes inter se the
parties.
8. The learned Arbitrators may proceed with the arbitration
proceedings, subject to furnishing to the parties the requisite
disclosures as required under Section 12(2) of the Act within a week
of entering into the reference.
9. The respective costs of arbitration shall be borne equally by the
parties.
10. All rights and contentions of the parties are kept open, to be
decided by the learned Tribunal on their merits, in accordance with
law.
11. Needless to state, nothing in this order shall be construed as an
expression of opinion of this Court on the merits of the controversy.
12. Accordingly, the present Petition under Section 9 of the Act
shall be treated as Application under Section 17 of the Act, and
appropriate directions may be passed by the learned Tribunal after
entering upon the reference.
13. The learned Arbitral Tribunal is requested to accord their
consideration to Section 17 Application as expeditiously as possible,
preferably within a period of two months from the constitution of the
learned Arbitral Tribunal.
14. The Registry is directed to send a receipt of this order to the
parties through all permissible modes, including through e-mail.
15. The parties are at liberty to communicate this Order to the
learned Arbitrators expeditiously.
16. The present Petition, along with pending Application(s), if any,
stands disposed of in the aforesaid terms.
17. Copy of this Order be given Dasti under the signatures of Court
Master.
HARISH VAIDYANATHAN SHANKAR, J.
APRIL 16, 2026/rk/dj
