In a significant procedural development, the Bombay High Court has delivered a ruling favoring two siblings embroiled in a high-value inheritance dispute with prominent members of the Kalyani Group family. The court has allowed Sameer Hiremath and Pallavi Swadi to amend their ongoing lawsuit to include promoter shares of listed group companies, escalating the financial stakes of the legal battle.
The Core of the Inheritance Dispute
The siblings, children of Sugandha Hiremath, initiated a civil suit in Pune in 2024. They filed the case against their mother, their uncles Baba Kalyani and Gaurishankar Kalyani, and three cousins. The lawsuit seeks their rightful share of inheritance from two family entities: the Annappa N. Kalyani Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) and the Neelkanth A Kalyani HUF.
Annappa N. Kalyani was the great-grandfather of the plaintiffs and the founder of the industrial conglomerate, the Kalyani Group. His son, Neelkanth, was the father of Baba, Gaurishankar, and Sugandha. The original suit already included several properties that the Hiremath siblings claim were bought using HUF funds and should therefore be part of the collective HUF assets, not personal holdings.
Amending the Suit to Include High-Value Shares
Subsequently, Sameer and Pallavi sought to broaden the scope of their legal petition. They requested permission to add more assets to their claim, most notably the promoter shares of two listed Kalyani Group companies: Bharat Forge Ltd and Kalyani Steels Ltd. These shares represent a massive combined market capitalization exceeding ₹70,000 crore.
Alongside the inclusion of these shares, the siblings also asked the court to impose a restraint on the voting rights attached to these promoter shares. Their core allegation is that these shares were originally acquired using funds from the family's Hindu Undivided Family (HUF) coffers, making them part of the inheritance pool.
However, the Pune civil court initially rejected their plea to amend the suit. This rejection prompted the Hiremath siblings to approach the Bombay High Court with a specific appeal challenging the lower court's decision.
Bombay High Court's Procedural Win and Family Reaction
On Monday, the Bombay High Court ruled in favor of the siblings, allowing them to formally amend their lawsuit to incorporate the disputed promoter shares and other assets. This ruling is a procedural victory that enables the case to proceed with the expanded claim.
The Kalyani Group, however, was quick to downplay the significance of the court's order. A group spokesperson characterized it as a routine procedural step. "The order is purely procedural and reflects settled law permitting a party to seek relief. It grants no substantive relief to the Hiremaths in relation to voting rights or property, as is being suggested," the spokesperson stated via email.
The spokesperson further clarified, "All such issues will be decided by the Court after hearing both sides. Portraying this routine procedural order as a substantive win is misleading and misrepresents the true scope of the Court’s directions."
A Broader Pattern of Family Litigation
This ruling adds another layer to the protracted legal conflicts within the Kalyani family. It coincides with an existing, long-running dispute between industrialist Baba Kalyani and his sister Sugandha Hiremath (the mother of the plaintiffs). That separate legal battle concerns the ownership of promoter shares in the listed chemicals company Hikal Ltd, which has a market capitalization of nearly ₹3,000 crore.
The Bombay High Court's decision sets the stage for a more complex and high-stakes trial in Pune, where the merits of the inheritance claims—including the rightful ownership of shares worth tens of thousands of crores—will be thoroughly examined and contested by both sides.
