Firodia wins Bajaj Tempo battle

Bajaj Auto might reconsider going to the SC to challenge Bombay HC's decision.

Bajaj Auto seems to have conceded defeat to the Abhay Firodia-controlled Bajaj Tempo's move to rechristen the company (Bajaj Tempo) Force Motors.

Bajaj Auto, which holds a 24 per cent stake in the multi-utility vehicle and light commercial vehicle manufacturer, has been resisting the Firodia plan to drop the "Bajaj" prefix from the name of Bajaj Tempo.

Sources close to the development said Bajaj Auto might reconsider its plan to go to the Supreme Court to challenge the Bombay High Court's decision that did not grant a stay on the name change.

Bajaj Auto chairman Rahul Bajaj told Business Standard: "The company will not go to the apex court just for the heck of it. It will file a petition with the Supreme Court only if it makes sense."

Sources said as things stood now, it was unlikely that Bajaj Auto would get a stay order from the Supreme Court by Friday after which the court closed till early July on account of the summer vacation.

By that time, Bajaj Tempo -- which has got permission from the government as well as its shareholders for the name change -- will implement its plan. Bajaj Auto was yet to get the written order of the Bombay High Court, they added.

Bajaj said his intention was to make it public that a name change proposal should be treated as a special resolution under Section 22 of the Companies Act, 1956.

Under the Companies Act, while an ordinary resolution needs 51 per cent of the shareholders' approval, a special resolution needs the approval of 75 per cent of shareholders. Without the consent of the Bajaj group, the Firodias could not have pushed the special resolution.

He also said a settlement to the Bajaj family dispute over of the ownership of the Rs 13,000 crore Bajaj empire would be announced by end-June or early July, marking an end to the three-year impasse.

Bajaj said the family members"" Shekhar, Madhur and Niraj on the one side and his brother Shishir and his son Kushagra on the other side""were expected to sign the agreement the latest by early July.