Court dismisses Preity Zinta’s suit against co-directors Mohit Burman, Ness Wadia

Civil Judge Kaushal Kumar Yadav in Chandigarh has dismissed a civil suit filed by Preity Zinta, film actress and one of the directors of KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, against co-directors Mohit Burman and Ness Wadia. In the suit, Zinta prayed to declare the Extraordinary General Meeting of the company, which took place on April 21, as illegal and invalid. She contended that the meeting was conducted by Mohit Burman with the active support of Ness Wadia in violation and total disregard of the provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, as well as Articles of the company. Zinta also prayed to restrain the company, Mohit Burman, and Ness Wadia from giving effect to any resolution that may have been passed at the meeting and to restrain Muneesh Khanna from acting or holding himself out as a director of the company. However, senior advocate Anand Chhibbar, assisted by advocate Amitabh Tewari, appearing for Ness Wadia, and NK Nanda, appearing for the company, opposed the suit. Chhibbar argued that the application of the plaintiff lacked merit and was liable to be dismissed outright, as the court lacked inherent jurisdiction to entertain the same in light of Section 430 of the Companies Act, 2013. He said the dispute, camouflaged as a civil grievance, was in substance one of oppression and mismanagement within the meaning of Sections 241 and 242 of the Companies Act, 2013, and such matters fell exclusively within the jurisdiction of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). After hearing the arguments, the court held that it lacked jurisdiction to entertain the present suit in view of the express statutory bar contained in Section 430 of the Companies Act, 2013. The grievances of the plaintiff pertained substantially to oppression and mismanagement and, therefore, lay within the exclusive jurisdiction of NCLT. The court rejected the plaint under Order VII Rule 11(d) of the Code of Civil Procedure for want of jurisdiction. However, Zinta was given the liberty to pursue an appropriate remedy before NCLT, subject to the conditions prescribed under Section 244 of the Companies Act, 2013. Zinta holds a 23 per cent shareholding in KPH Dream Cricket Private Limited, a private limited company incorporated under the Companies Act, 1956, which owns a franchise of the IPL and the cricket team known as Punjab Kings.

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