The Bombay High Court has set aside an order passed by the Arbitration Tribunal asking actor Dilip Kumar to give an undertaking to secure a property worth Rs25 crore till there is a decision on the damages claimed by Prajita Developers. The order refers to Dilip Kumar’s dispute with Prajita Developers over his bungalow in Pali Hill in Mumbai. The order has come as a relief for the veteran star.
Prajita Developers had claimed Rs176 crore in damages from Dilip Kumar for allegedly terminating a redevelopment agreement for the bungalow in 2006.
“Looking at it from any angle, the tribunal was wholly unjustified in directing respondent no.1 [Dilip Kumar] to give an undertaking… It was irrelevant whether the undertaking was in respect of specific property or any other unencumbered personal property belonging to respondent no.1,” said justice Burgess Colabawalla in his judgement.
In May 2018, the Arbitration Tribunal had ordered Kumar to submit an undertaking that he will “not alienate or encumber or part with the possession of the property worth Rs 25 crore” till the proceedings are concluded. The order was later challenged by Dilip Kumar in the Bombay HC.
The matter goes back in 2006 when Dilip Kumar signed an agreement with Sharyans Builders to redevelop his bungalow. In 2010 Sharyans assigned the rights to Prajita Developers. The firm approached Bombay HC in 2015 after Dilip Kumar backed out of the agreement.