Bina Modi to recommend Samir's appointment to Godfrey Phillips Board: Court

A Delhi court has told Bina Modi to recommend her son Samir Modi’s appointment to Godfrey Phillips India’s board when it is due in September as a prospective candidate for directorship.

However, the company’s nomination and remuneration committee (NRC) will decide on his appointment. NRC of the company is required to conduct an independent evaluation of all the potential candidates.

The court said that Bina Modi is bound by the restated deed of trust of her late husband KK Modi and cannot act against it. 

“Thus, the defendant number one (Bina Modi) is directed that she being the managing trustee of the KK Modi Family Trust holding 47% shares in the defendant No. 4 company (GodfreyPhillips), shall recommend the name of the Plaintiff (Samir Modi) for appointment as director to the Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the defendant No. 4 company, who may take appropriate decision as per the mandates of companies act and the trust imposed on them by the company,” the court said.

The court said that in case the Samir Modi’s name is recommended by NRC and approved by the board of directors and put for voting before the general meeting of the company, he must not take any step to foil the candidature of Bina Modi for appointment of director of Godfrey Phillips in the general meeting. 

The court has also left it to Godfrey Phillips to decide on its planned exit from its retail business under the brand 24/7. 

Samir Modi had also demanded that Godfrey Phillips be prevented from exiting the retail business. The company now finds itself in the middle of the dispute between the successors of KK Modi.

Samir Modi, the executive director of Godfrey Phillips, had accused his mother of orchestrating an attack on him to gain leverage in the ongoing inheritance dispute. He said his mother has been conspiring to remove him from the company’s board. 

Bina Modi is currently chairperson and managing director of Godfrey Phillips.

She had withdrawn her contempt petition against her sons, Lalit and Samir Modi, from the Supreme Court on July 23. 

Her lawyer had informed the court that she will not press contempt charges against her son Samir’s allegations that she assaulted him during a board meeting.

The inheritance dispute centres on KK Modi’s extensive holdings, including a significant share in Godfrey Phillips and other family companies. Following KK Modi's death in 2019, Samir Modi has contested his mother’s management of the family’s affairs in the Supreme Court. Despite previously receiving an offer from his mother to buy his stake, Samir Modi now refuses to exit and has accused her of not distributing funds as outlined in his father's trust deed.

Samir Modi, along with his siblings Lalit and Charu Modi, are supposed to be equal beneficiaries according to a trust deed executed by their father.