Final call in Munjal family row by arbitration panel: Delhi HC – Times of India

NEW DELHI: The Munjal family feud between Pawan Munjal of Hero MotoCorp and his nephew, Hero Electric’s Naveen Munjal, over the former’s use of ‘Hero’ brand for electrics is headed into arbitration.
The Delhi high court on Thursday did not put any immediate stay on Pawan and his company from using the Hero brand for their line of electrics — opposed by Naveen under a 2010 family settlement — but said a final decision on the matter would be taken only by an arbitration panel. The Naveen camp will now seek an injunction on the brand use with the arbitral tribunal.
Both sides expressed “satisfaction” over the court’s order, given by a single-judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru. While the Pawan Munjal camp said that the order allows them to go ahead with the launch of electrics using the popular Hero brand name, the Naveen side said the order for arbitration stands “in line with our plea”.
The legal team representing Pawan claimed that faced with the possibility of dismissal of the application for interim relief, the Naveen camp withdrew its petition seeking an injunction against Hero MotoCorp for using the brand Hero for electrics. “Hero MotoCorp is now free to use Hero brand name for its electric vehicles, as the Delhi high court has denied Hero Electric any interim relief. We are confident that arbitration award will also be in our favour,” Ris- hi Agarwal of Agarwal Law Associates told TOI.
On the other hand, the Naveen camp claimed that the decision is in line with their plea. “A petition was filed by Hero Electric to refer the disputes to arbitration, which was strongly opposed by Hero MotoCorp. The court, while rejecting all contentions of Hero MotoCorp, has referred all the disputes under the family arrangement to a three member arbitral tribunal. Given the reference of all disputes between the parties, we will be making a prayer for interim injunction against Hero MotoCorp before the duly constituted tribunal. Needless to add that we will also take all possible steps to thwart any challenge to the order of reference of the disputes to arbitration. ”