NEW DELHI: “We all came with empty hands and we have to go with empty hands. All we carry is our souls,” observed Justice J B Pardiwala of the Supreme Court on Thursday while hearing the Rs 30,000-crore property dispute over late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s family trust between his mother Rani Kapur and wife Priya Kapur.
During the hearing on Rani Kapur’s plea, the court urged the family members to settle the dispute, noting her advancing age, and directed all the parties involved to refrain from taking steps that could affect the mediation process.
“She (Rani Kapur) is an 80-year-old woman. We all came with empty hands and we have to go with empty hands. All we carry is our souls. There has to be a will to settle the matter. Don’t go before the mediator with a heavy heart just because the court has pushed us. Each one of you try,” the court observed.
Expressing serious concern that the dispute involved an aged family member, the court clarified that once “we referred it to mediation, we expect cooperation” and otherwise, “we will decide it ourselves”. “The goal is to avoid a prolonged corporate battle,” it pointed out.
The case will be taken up again for hearing on August 6, upon the mediator filing reports on the progress of discussions between the parties.
The court was hearing a plea by late industrialist Sunjay Kapur’s mother, Rani Kapur, seeking a direction to restrain his wife, Priya Kapur, and other parties from interfering with the functioning of the R K Family Trust during the pendency of mediation.
Noting that if even “a ray of light” emerges during mediation, the parties should pursue it constructively, the Supreme Court declined to halt a board meeting of Raghuvanshi Investment Private Limited (RIPL), which owns a major part of the disputed estate of Sunjay Kapur.
At the outset, counsel appearing for Priya Kapur submitted before the Court that the proposed Board Meeting was being convened primarily in furtherance of statutory and regulatory compliance obligations arising from directions issued by the Reserve Bank of India after an RBI inspection conducted in February 2026.
It was argued that the agenda items concerning the appointment of independent directors and modification of authorised signatories were necessary compliance measures and not an attempt to alter the status quo or aggravate the dispute during mediation.
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