The 130-year-old Kirloskar group, which at one time had over 30 flourishing companies under its umbrella, is set for another battle with Rahul Kirloskar and Atul Kirloskar filing a plea at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) to oust sibling Sanjay Kirloskar as chairman and managing director of Kirloskar Brothers Ltd.

This is the second major feud in the Kirloskar Group after the family split in 2000.

As a result of the fallout then, Vijay Kirloskar moved away with eight companies which included Kirloskar Electric, Kirloskar Developers & Builders, Kirloskar SoftwareServices, Kirloskar Power Equipments, Kirloskar Computer Services, KirloskarAnsaldo Industrial Systems, Kirloskar Batteries and Kirloskar Malaysia. This wing of the family is based out of Bengaluru.

The family clashes began around 1995, with the death of S L Kirloskar, the first son of Laxman Rao Kirloskar, who had dreamt of holding all the several units run by the brothers and their sons under one goal of a powerful Kirloskar group.

But following his death, Vijay Kirloskar, the eldest among the third generation Kirloskars, was made chairman of the Group.

Vijay Kirloskar is the son of Ravi Kirloskar — the last son of Laxman Rao Kirloskar.

The other two sons were Rajaram Kirloskar and P L Kirloskar. Sukumar Kirloskar, Rajaram Kirloskar’s son, had already moved out of the family group with his Kirloskar Multimedia.

P L Kirloskar’s son, Ajit Kirloskar, owned Blue Diamond, a hotel in Pune. Back then, the election of Vijay Kirloskar as chairman had created resentment among the Pune-wing of the Kirloskar group spearheaded by S L Kirloskar’s grandsons Atul, Sanjay and Rahul.

The three head Kirloskar Oil Engines, Kirloskar Brothers and Kirloskar Pneumatics, respectively. These three are C S Kirloskar’s sons. Vijay Kirloskar was asked to step down from the post of chairman in 1999, in an internal family coup, following differences of opinion from the Pune-wing, over management decisions.

The present feud

Cut to 2018 and the three brothers forming the Pune-wing— Atul, Sanjay and Rahul, are at loggerheads.

Atul and Rahul have alleged that Sanjay was forcefully increasing his shareholding in the flagship Kirloskar Brothers Ltd. The genesis of this feud seems to be the 2009 deal, which Sanjay claimed that the other two brothers have reneged. The Mumbai Bench of the NCLT will hear the case on December 17.

The first signs that all was not well within the family came to light in August this year, when Sanjay moved Pune civil court seeking damages to the tune of ₹750 crore from his brothers Atul, Rahul among others for allegedly failing to adhere to the 2009 deal.