Senior counsels appearing on behalf of the defendants submitted that there had already been three unsuccessful attempts at resolving the family dispute
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The long standing dispute between Kalyani siblings — Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani and his sister Sugandha Hiremath — has now been referred to mediation by the Supreme Court.A three-member bench of the Supreme Court presided over by Chief Justice of India, Justice Surya Kant, directed the siblings to participate in mediation.The Court appointed a former judge of the Supreme Court, Justice L Nageswara Rao as the mediator. The matter has now been listed for hearing after two weeks.The Kalyani family members have been involved in bitter legal disputes for over a decade over their ancestral wealth.The order passed on Monday, July 13 by Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi, and Justice V Mohana, was delivered in the backdrop of multiple litigations pending between Baba Kalyani (77), Sugandha Hiremath (74), and Gaurishankar Kalyani (72) and their family members.The matter reached Supreme Court after Sugandha Hiremath moved court against an order passed by Bombay High Court on May 4 rejecting mediation between Kalyani siblings.Senior counsels appearing on behalf of the defendants submitted that there had already been three unsuccessful attempts at resolving the family dispute.They highlighted that first mediation took place before the Supreme Court in 2018 in connected family proceedings, where despite the appointment of a mediator, the exercise ultimately failed. The second attempt occurred before the District Court in 2024 but never progressed meaningfully as the parties did not engage. A third effort this year had similarly yielded no results.It was argued that, against this backdrop, directing another mediation would merely consume judicial time without any realistic prospect of settlement, the lawyer said .The respondents further pointed to the structure of the dispute, arguing that it extended beyond a simple disagreement between siblings and involved numerous companies, multiple family branches and significant public shareholding. It was submitted that the complexity of shareholding arrangements had itself been one of the reasons previous mediation efforts had collapsed.At stake is ancestral wealth estimated at over ₹1 lakh crore, including vast immovable properties and several listed companies under the Kalyani Group.When the matter came up for hearing in SC on Monday, Hiremath was represented by Karanjawala & Co, RJD & Partners and Senior Counsel Shyam Divan.The other side was represented by senior counsels Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and Aryama Sundaram.The SC bench insisted that parties must consider mediation.Baba Kalyani’s side insisted that the mediation should be time-bound and that proceedings in the High Court should continue during this time.The SC bench, however, ordered that all proceedings be stayed during the course of mediation. The bench ordered that siblings approach Justice L Nageswara Rao without any delay and the mediation process begin on Tuesday, July 14, citing the possibility of a settlement.Published on July 13, 2026
