Delhi HC Appoints Arbitrator To Address Ashneer Grover-BharatPe Dispute

The Delhi High Court has appointed a sole arbitrator to address the ongoing legal dispute between BharatPe and its former managing director Ashneer Grover. 

The dispute pertains to Grover’s alleged ‘confidentiality breach’ under his employment pact.

The court, led by a single judge bench of Justice C Hari Shankar, has appointed the arbitrator to handle the case, specifying that the arbitration will proceed under the rules of the Delhi International Arbitration Centre (DIAC), Bar and Bench reported.

Justice Shankar passed the order on a plea filed by BharatPe under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.

Previously, Giriraj Subramanium, the lawyer representing Grover, suggested that this matter may also be referred to the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) which is already dealing with the disputes between the two sides over the shareholders’ agreement. 

To this, the Delhi court said that the employment agreement does not say that the disputes between the two sides will be dealt with as per SIAC procedure. Hence, arbitration will be under the aegis of the DIAC.

In November last year, BharatPe moved the Delhi High Court seeking an injunction against Grover for sharing “confidential information” related to the firm.

In the same month, Grover took to X to disclose the equity allocation and secondary components undertaken during BharatPe’s Series E funding round, which was led by Tiger Global with participation by Dragoneer Investor group and others. Later, the post was taken down.

It is pertinent to note that in 2021, BharatPe entered the coveted unicorn club after bagging $370 Mn in its Series E funding round led by Tiger Global at a valuation of $2.85 Bn. 

Earlier, BharatPe sent a notice to Grover proposing the name of former Supreme Court judge Justice Hemant Gupta as the sole arbitrator to resolve the disputes.

Although Grover agreed to the constitution of the arbitral tribunal, he suggested the name of Justice (Retired) JR Midha to be appointed as the arbitrator.

It is pertinent to note that this is not the only case where both these entities are fighting against each other. 

The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) is also investigating another matter between BharatPe and its former senior executives, including ex-CEO Grover and his wife and ex ‘head of controls’ Madhuri Jain Grover where the latter is alleged to have used backdated invoices to syphon off funds from BharatPe’s accounts towards payments of commissions for recruitment work. 

Post these findings, the EOW directed the husband wife duo via lookout circular (LOC) to not leave the country without courts’s order. Later, Grover and his wife moved the Delhi High Court seeking its permission to travel abroad.

In May, Justice Subramonium Prasad directed the couple to furnish the security by way of property in order to make their trip to the US, for their children’s summer school. 

Lately, the Delhi High Court has reportedly permitted the release of the amount as the duo have now returned to India.