The Bombay high court on 4th February upheld an arbitration award in favour of Sussanne Khan, ex-wife of Hrithik Roshan, over a claim of over Rs. 2.52 crore. A bench of chief justice Pradeep Nandrajog and Justice Bharati Dangre dismissed a plea by Mudhit Gupta and Emgee Properties of Goa.
The firm and Sussanne had signed a contract in September 2013, commissioning her to design the interiors of a 12-villa property project in Goa with a payment of Rs. 1.68 crore to be made in the first phase (inception) and of Rs. 5 crore in the second phase (detailed design). The firm did not use Sussanne Khan’s services to execute the second phase of her designs and refused to pay the sum. However, a clause in the contract said that if Sussanne’s services were not used for executing the designs created by her, she would be entitled to get Rs. 2.52 crore as the architectural and designer’s fee. The arbitrator held in favour of Sussanne. A single judge and now a division bench of the high court upheld the arbitrator’s award.