In a recent court battle, Subhkam Ventures and Milton Global found themselves in a legal mess over a joint business deal that went wrong. The Bombay High Court had to step in to sort things out, with Judge Somasekhar Sundaresan making the final decision.
Subhkam Ventures and the Vaghani Group each owned half of Milton JV, a company formed to sell products under the Milton brand. However, problems arose when the Vaghani Group allegedly moved business to Hamilton Housewares, a company they controlled, breaking the agreement that they wouldn't compete.
"The Subhkam Group claimed the sales of Milton JV dropped from Rs. 30.85 crores in 2004-05 to Rs. 71,000 in 2013-14."
The group of people who were supposed to settle the dispute found the Vaghani Group guilty of trickery and breaking their agreement, but surprisingly, they didn't give any help to Subhkam. They decided that Subhkam wasn't ready to do their part, treating their rights as responsibilities.
"The Tribunal held that Subhkam Group was not entitled to any relief despite the Vaghani Group's violations."
Judge Sundaresan didn't agree. He found the decision confusing, as it punished Subhkam for not using their rights while ignoring Vaghani's obvious wrongdoings.
"The Impugned Award is riddled with inherent contradictions."
The court canceled the Tribunal's decision, allowing both parties to go through the dispute process again. Judge Sundaresan stressed that the earlier findings were unfair and didn't match with what is right or fair.
"The Impugned Award shocks the conscience of the Court."
The High Court decided that the previous decision was not fair and allowed both Subhkam Ventures and the Vaghani Group to start the arbitration process over again.
