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TVS Motor Company Chairman Emeritus Venu Srinivasan and his daughter Lakshmi Venu have filed caveats against each other in courts amid an escalating family dispute over inheritance, ownership and the division of business interests.
Eight caveats were filed on October 12 and 13 before the Chennai civil and commercial courts, with four filings in each court, people familiar with the matter said. Venu Srinivasan has also filed caveats before the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT). The caveats filed by Venu Srinivasan and his son Sudarshan Venu name Lakshmi Venu, while those filed by his wife Mallika Srinivasan and Lakshmi Venu name Venu Srinivasan. A caveat is a legal filing through which a person seeks to ensure that a court does not pass an order against them without first providing an opportunity to be heard, said Suruchi Suri, partner at law firm Suri & Co. The latest filings mark a fresh development in the succession dispute within the TVS family, which has come into focus over differences regarding the ownership and economic division of family business interests. The disagreement broadly involves two sides of the family, with Venu Srinivasan and his son Sudarshan maintaining that a settlement has already been reached, while Mallika Srinivasan and Lakshmi Venu have disputed that an economic settlement has been completed. At the centre of the dispute is a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed in March 2024 by Venu Srinivasan, Mallika Srinivasan, Lakshmi Venu and Sudarshan Venu. While Venu Srinivasan and son Sudarshan maintain that the understanding formed part of the family settlement, Mallika and daughter Lakshmi have argued that the MoU primarily dealt with arrangements concerning the use of TVS brands, trademarks and non-compete obligations and did not constitute a division of family wealth. The differences have also brought attention to the distinction between management control of businesses and ownership of their underlying economic interests. Lakshmi Venu has sought a formal and equitable settlement, while the two sides differ on whether existing arrangements adequately address the division of family assets. The dispute follows an earlier broader family settlement within the TVS Group, which saw business interests reorganised among different branches of the family. However, differences have persisted within the Venu Srinivasan family over the distribution and ownership of its economic interests. The caveat filings come amid growing uncertainty over the resolution of the family dispute, with the parties seeking to safeguard their legal positions as differences over inheritance and business ownership continue. (ANI)
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