SC orders Sakal to pay Rs 3 crore to its director

The Supreme Court has directed Pune-based Sakal Papers Pvt Ltd to pay Rs 3 crore to one of its directors Claude-Lila Parulekar for illegal transfer of 3,510 of her shares in the company to Pratap Pawar's group which now owns the Marathi daily.

"In order to give a quietus to the litigation, we think that the purpose of justice would be best served by directing that the appellant (Parulekar) should be compensated with an amount of Rs three crore to be paid by the company (Sakal Papers) in full and final settlement of the appellant's claims in respect of the 3,417 and 93 shares," the apex court said awarding her compensation under section 155 of Companies Act.

The company will also allot shares to her out of the 17,666 shares on par proportionate with her present share holding, a division bench of justice Ruma Pal and justice P V Reddi said.

Parulekar shall continue as a director of the company during her lifetime, the Court said in its 82-page judgment disposing of her appeal against a division bench order of the Bombay High Court.

The High Court had in December 1989 held that the transfer of 3,417 shares to Pawar Group was valid and although there was some irregularity in issuing 17,666 shares, the same had been cured by the subsequent ratification of the decision.

The order was challenged in the apex court by Parulekar whose father Dr N B Parulekar started the newspaper at Pune in 1933.