Kalyani firm trains guns on Hikal compliance officer

livemint.com:

MUMBAI : The conflict between Bharat Forge Ltd’s promoter Baba N. Kalyani and sister Sugandha Hiremath has escalated with a Kalyani group company requesting the market regulator to order the removal of the compliance officer of Hikal Ltd, a speciality chemicals company jointly owned by the Kalyanis and the Hiremaths. It has also called for action against Hikal’s audit committee.

Kalyani Investment Co. Ltd (KICL), a co-promoter of Hikal, wrote to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) on 29 November that the compliance officer unfairly restricted it from buying Hikal shares at the behest of the Hiremaths. The company asked Sebi to investigate the actions of the Hiremaths, the compliance officer, and the members of Hikal’s audit committee for a “coordinated scheme" to solely benefit the Hiremaths.

The letter accused Hikal’s board and audit committee of “gross abuse of powers and dereliction of duties". Mint has seen a copy of the letter. “...there is a total breakdown in the governance function in Hikal, wherein the entire governance function was acting hand in glove with Jai Hiremath (chairman, Hikal) and Sugandha Hiremath (Baba Kalyani’s sister) to further their agenda of usurping sole control over Hikal," the letter said.

This was done to restrict free transferability of Hikal shares in the open market, it said. Such “collusive" conduct shows the listed firm is being run to “further the personal agenda of the Hiremaths", the Kalyani company alleged. In response to a Mint query, Rajasekhar Reddy, company secretary and compliance officer, Hikal, under the instruction of Jai Hiremath, said, “We are not aware of any such letter written by KICL to Sebi and we will deal with the same appropriately if and when we