Bombay HC refuses to stay hearing on suit against fmr Raymond chair's autobiography

The Bombay High Court has refused to stay hearing on a suit filed by Raymond Limited in a Thane civil court seeking injunction against the company's former chairman Vijaypat Singhania's autobiography, tentatively titled 'The Incomplete Man'.

The company had in September this year filed a suit in the civil court in the neighbouring Thane district, seeking injunction against the book of Vijaypat Singhania, the estranged father of Raymond Group Chairman Gautam Singhania, alleging that its contents were defamatory.

During the pendency of the lawsuit, Vijaypat Singhania approached the high court, seeking the suit to be transferred from the Thane court to the civil court in Mumbai, citing inconvenience.

He had sought for the suit to be tagged along with a similar plea filed before the Mumbai civil court by Gautam Singhania against the book.

He had further sought for a stay on the suit hearing before the Thane court, pending hearing of his application seeking transfer.

Justice Anuja Prabhudessai on December 5 directed Raymond Limited to file its affidavit in response to Vijaypat Singhania's plea and posted it for hearing on January 16, 2019.

"The high court has directed us (Raymond) to file our affidavit. The court has refused to grant a stay on hearing on the suit before the Thane court," advocate Kartik Nayar, appearing for the company, said.

The suit filed by the company is likely to come up for hearing before the Thane civil court on December 17.

Vijaypat Singhania and his son have been engaged in a legal battle over a duplex apartment in the 36-storey redeveloped J K House in south Mumbai.

In a petition filed in the high court in 2016, Vijaypat Singhania had claimed that his son was refusing to honour an arbitration order which awarded the duplex apartment to the former.