Vijaypat Singhania, chairman emeritus of Raymond, handed over the reins to his younger son Gautam Singhania, now chairman and managing director of Raymond in 2015
After stepping down as chairman Vijaypat Singhania filed a petition with the Bombay High Court asking for possession of a duplex apartment in the 37-story JK House building in Mumbai’s affluent Breach Candy neighborhood. A tripartite agreement was signed between the company, Pashmina Holdings (a Raymond subsidiary that leased JK House from the company), and the building’s then tenants, who were Vijaypat Singhania, Veenadevi (the widow of Vijaypat’s brother Ajaypat Singhania), her sons Anant and Akshaypat, and Gautam. At the time, four of the building’s five duplex flats were occupied by these individuals.
While Vijaypat filed a separate plea to stake a claim to one of the rebuilt units that he believes is properly his, Veenadevi and her sons have filed a joint petition with the HC about custody of two flats.
The conflict began in this place. The tenants and the developer agreed that they would each receive a 5,185 square foot duplex apartment in the new building in exchange for a payment of Rs 9,000 per square foot, which was calculated using the then-current ready-reckoner rates published by the BMC. However, according to insiders at Raymond, by the time the units were finished in 2016, the prices had increased to more over Rs 1 lakh per square foot. Giving the apartments to the renters at the existing rates would cause the business to lose a significant amount of money. This was separate from problems with corporate governance, when family members were given apartments in a company-owned building for less than 90% of the market cost. The company’s board agreed to put the original proposal before shareholders for approval after Raymond presented it to them. 97% of shareholders voted against the idea in a vote,
According to Vijaypat, Gautam unnecessarily brought a matter that could have been resolved at the board level before the shareholders, depriving him of a proper residence.
Gautam felt that his duties and obligations as chairman of Raymond and Vijaypat’s son are distinct. The shareholders were presented with all relevant information so they could make an informed choice and they disapproved the trilateral deal. Gautam acknowledged that he would have been voted against the resolution in the interest of the company’s shareholders if he had the opportunity to cast a ballot. Family interests came last and are subordinate to shareholder interests for Gautam.
With this Vijaypat, relocated to his family house, Kamla Cottage in Juhu once JK House was given to developers for reconstruction. However, he again relocated to a rented duplex in Breach Candy because of a complaint Madhupati (the eldest son of Vijaypat) made in 2015 to the Bombay High Court, alleging that his father had disobeyed a 2008 arbitration judgement regarding control of Kamla Cottage and hence must abandon it. He asked Raymond for a rent payment of Rs. 7 lakh per month for this house.
Currently, Gautam resides in one of the duplex apartments in JK House.