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MUMBAI:
After arriving at a settlement, former partners UTV and Palador
are fighting again. In a fresh development, Palador has dragged
UTV to the court and intends to demand upwards of Rs 150 million
as compensation.
Palador
has filed a case in the Bombay High Court under Section 34
of the Arbitration & Reconciliation Act of 1996. According
to the company, UTV has breached the settlement terms. These
include: authenticity of the amount being claimed by UTV;
denial to return all the materials that belong to Palador;
refusal to comply with clause 2 of the settlement agreement,
that demanded it to furnish documents to effectively return
the movies to Palador on payment; and breach of provisions
of the settlement agreement, by continuing to use Palador's
brand Olive.
Palador
said that it is also in the process of filing a few more cases
including breach of trust, breach of non-disclosure agreements,
defamation, damages and violation of intellectual property.
According
to the settlement reached earlier by the two parties, UTV
was supposed to give up 75 films that are in joint custody
of both players, along with necessary documents and declarations.
UTV
was obliged to return the brand Olive collection and the materials
of the said films that were in UTV's possession. In return,
Palador was to re-imburse UTV with the exact expenses incurred
on the venture.
Defending
UTV's stance, a company spokesperson said: "Both parties
entered into a written and binding mutual agreement, passed
by the learned arbitrator directing Palador Pictures, Gautam
Sikhnis and Mohan Polamarsetty to pay to UTV Rs 40.3 million
within 90 days from the date of award. The said 90 days expired
on 31 October 2007. Palador Pictures failed to pay the agreed
amount. Hence UTV becomes the absolute owner of the 75 films."
Palador,
however, alleged that the money being claimed by UTV was "inflated"
and it was "not adhering to its promise of providing
Palador with the details of how the amount was arrived upon."
Additionally, Palador has "discovered through its various
partners that UTV has more materials in its possession than
it had declared in the settlement (this includes some rare
posters, photographic material, priceless short films and
negatives). There are also personal belongings of the founders
of Palador and its team - that were retained by UTV on sacking
20 people with a 40 minute notice, when it terminated the
relationship on flimsy allegations."
Said
Palador MD and founder Shiknis: "We stood through having
our business plan being illegally hived off into another company,
false allegations made against us in the global media and
having our precious films maliciously claimed. We were left
with no other recourse but to take this stand and deliver
justice to itself, the employees that were thrown out of the
door with 40 minutes notice and for the love of the directors
we worship."
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