On Wednesday, the Delhi High Court took cognisance of a contempt petition filed against Founder and Managing Partner of Luthra & Luthra Law Offices Rajiv Luthra and former Partners Bobby Chandoke, Sudhir Sharma and Deepali Chandhoke.
The petition was filed by the heirs of former partner of the firm, Late Vijay Sondhi - Sangeeta and Ajay Sondhi. It was claimed that Luthra and the others had violated an order passed by the High Court on 01-06-2022.
In the petition filed ealier this year, claiming illegal apportionment of Vijay Sondhi's equity stake in the firm by the other Partners, it has been pleaded that being the heirs of Sondhi, they had a right to take part in the conduct of business of the firm, as per the provisions of the Partnership Act.
The High Court in the June 1st order had referred the dispute to arbitration after mediation talks between the parties failed. It was stated in the order that pending the decision of the sole arbitrator, Sondhi's 20.8% stake in the firm will not be disturbed. It was also ordered that the induction of any new equity partners to the firm will be subject to the prior approval of the arbitrator, Justice Deepak Gupta. If any of the existing partners seek to resign from the partnership firm, they may do so, and the proportion of their share which would have gone to Sondhi will be maintained undisturbed, the Court had further stated.
Luthra Partners has recently dissolved its litigation arm and the Sondhis have claimed that by doing so, they have breached the High Court's order. It was their further allegation that the decision to dissolve the firm was infact carried out with the sole purpose of defeating their rights.
The single-judge bench of Justice Sachin Datta has listed the Civil Contempt petition for August 8th on respondent's request.
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