Duplicitous offspring

A Lear-like tragedy is unfolding within the upper crust of tony Sobo (south Bombay). The once flamboyant and super-rich former chairman of the prospering Raymond India Ltd, Vijaypat Singhania, who in 1998 solo-piloted a micro light single-engine airplane from London to Mumbai in 23 days to a hero’s welcome, is now in his own words “homeless”, dispossessed by his own son, Gautam to whom in a weak moment he gifted his entire shareholding of Raymond in 2015.  The facts of the case are as sordid as they are straightforward. Two years ago, Vijaypat now in his late seventies, ill-advisedly bequeathed his entire shareholding of 37,000 equity shares of the company to Gautam. A contract signed at that time between the board of Raymond Ltd and Vijaypat, guaranteed duplex 5,185 sq. ft flats in a 47-floor residential property being re-developed by the company in the posh south Mumbai area of Breach Candy to Vijaypat, and several members of the Singhania family at the then prevailing market price of Rs.9,000 per sq. ft. It’s a telling commentary on the havoc created by rent control legislation enacted by Congress governments which have ruled Maharashtra for over 60 years, that the price of the flats has since risen to a staggering Rs.100,000 per sq. ft.  The steep rise in the value of these apartments prompted the opportunistic Gautam — who has conveniently allotted himself a duplex apartment in Raymond House in his capacity as managing director — to demand the current market price from his father and relatives. When the latter insisted on fulfilment of the contract by the company, Gautam placed the matter before a general meeting of the shareholders who voted overwhelmingly in favour of rescinding the contract.  From your editor’s not inconsiderable knowledge of law, the contract between the board and Vijaypat is binding because the board is the duly authorised agent of shareholders and neither the board nor shareholders are empowered to rescind the contract. Pity, the brave and competent Vijaypat who built strong foundations for the company has been duped by his duplicitous offspring. Moral of the story: don’t part with wealth and property except in your last W&T (will and testament).   Unworthy choice One of the great leaders of the Freedom Movement was C.R. Rajagopalachari (aka Rajaji). Soon after independence, Rajaji was quick to discern that the enthusiastic imposition of the Soviet-inspired, centrally planned socialist economic development model upon the country by prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru would spell disaster for the high-potential newly liberated nation, and in 1959 he resigned from the ruling Indian National Congress to found the pro market and private enterprise Swatantra Party (SP). Although in the 1967 general election the Swatantra Party won 45 seats (one more than the Congress won in General Election 2014), after Rajaji’s demise in 1972, SP disappeared from the collective consciousness of the electorate.  For disregarding Rajaji’s counsel and message about the evils of Congress socialism, the people of India have paid a heavy price. Therefore, when Swarajya,…