In a major reprieve for socialite Sussanne Khan and the ex-wife of actor Hritik Roshan, the Bombay High Court on Tuesday upheld the orders of an Arbitrator Tribunal, who resolved a dispute between her and a Goa-based businessman.
The HC has accordingly ordered the businessman to pay Rs 2.5 crore to the socialite for using her ‘intellectual properties’ i.e. her designs for the 12 villas, which were to be constructed in Goa.
A bench of Chief Justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre accordingly ordered Mudit Gupta of EMGEE Properties to pay the remaining fees of Rs. 2.5 crore to Khan.
The issue pertains to the agreement between Gupta and Khan, wherein the latter was roped in to create interior designs for the former’s real estate project in Goa. Accordingly, it was agreed that Khan would be getting Rs. six crores in two phases for which she would be handing over her designs for the 12 villas.
The duo worked together for a time and Gupta paid Rs. 1.68 crores to Khan, as agreed, however, from then on dispute germinated between them. The discord arose when Khan learnt that Gupta was trying to execute the interiors of the villas by using her drawings through another interior decorator.
Accordingly, Khan demanded the pending fees accusing Gupta of breaching the agreement by using a third party for executing the interiors of the villas. She demanded the pending fees of over Rs. five crores.
However, Gupta disputed the amount and refused to make the payments accusing her of breaching the agreement. The businessman also claimed that Khan delayed submitting the designs which were against the agreement.
Having considered the contentions, an arbitrator tribunal passed an order in favour of Khan and ordered Gupta to pay Rs. 2.5 crore to her for using her intellectual properties (designs).
Taking exception to this order, Gupta petitioned the bench led by CJ Nandrajog, which upheld the arbitrator’s orders.
“The Award rightly records that Khan was not to be blamed for the delay and
the advantage could not have been derived on the pretext of delay in submission of designs and plans to deny the second phase of fees. In absence of proof being adduced, the Arbitrator has rightly refused to accept
Gupta’s claim that the drawings were incomplete or unusable,” CJ Nandrajog has noted in his orders.
The bench further held that Khan was not in breach of the agreement and neither was she responsible for the delay in execution of the project. “On the contrary, she had performed her part of the obligations by submitting all the architectural drawings which justified her entitlement for the first phase of fees and also justified her entitlement to an amount agreed in the contract to the tune of Rs. 2.52 crores for executing the work of the project by using the drawings rendered by her,” the bench said while dismissing the plea.
