DY Chandrachud to mediate in Kapurs’ dispute

NEW DELHI: Former Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud has been roped in to settle the high-profile property dispute between late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s mother Rani Kapur and his wife Priya Kapur over the family trust, tied to his Rs 30,000 crore estate. As they expressed willingness for mediation, Supreme Court on Thursday appointed the ex CJI as mediator and asked the parties to explore an amicable settlement.

“It is a family dispute. Let it be confined among the family only. It should not be a source of entertainment,” a bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and Ujjal Bhuyan told them.

The court asked the parties to appear before ex-CJI Chandrachud for mediation. “We shall wait for a preliminary report from the mediator and thereafter proceed further with the matter,” it said and posted the matter for Aug.

The court, on April 27, had sought a response from Priya Kapur and others on a lawsuit by Sunjay Kapur’s mother seeking directions to declare the family trust “null and void”. She alleged in her petition that the trust, which was constituted in Oct 2017, was a product of “forged, fabricated and fraudulent” documents. The legal proceedings over control of the estate and assets are pending before Delhi high court and the petition before the top court seeks a status quo on alienation of all properties of the trust.