In yet another twist in the battle between Lodha brothers, Macrotech Developers led by Abhishek Lodha on Wednesday alleged that the House of Abhinandan Lodha (HoABL), owned by his brother Abhinandan, has “forged” board resolutions of the former, containing a no objection for the use of its trademarks, and filed the same with government authorities.
Macrotech, in an exchange filing, said no board meeting of the company was held on the date mentioned in these resolutions and the company’s board has never considered or approved them in any of its meetings.
The board resolutions filed with the government authorities have signature of an independent director, the company said. It is learnt that the independent director Macrotech is referring to is Ashwani Kumar, independent director of Macrotech Developers and former chairman & managing director of Dena Bank.
When contacted, a Lodha Ventures spokesperson said, “We are internally looking into the matter and shall revert with our detailed response. Suffice it to state that the House of Abhinandan Lodha does not admit any of the allegations of fraud and forgery sought to be attributed to us.” HoABL is housed under Lodha Ventures.
Macrotech said the boards of at least two HoABL companies approved and procured a change in their corporate names to those starting with ‘LODHA’, which is the registered trademark of Macrotech, from the relevant government authorities, submitting forged documents, and used the changed names of these companies for furtherance of their business activities.
Macrotech sources said HoABL obtained a resolution dated July 2022 which allowed formation of four new companies — Lodha Landbuild Infrastructure, Lodha Bhoomi Nirman, Lodha Land Design Infra , and Lodha Pictorials Landinfra. The four companies were allowed to use the Lodha trademark and were to be registered with the registrar of companies’ (RoC) central registration centre in Manesar, Haryana.
Sources said the alleged forgery was done to sell plots in Goa and other places under the Lodha name.
Macrotech said its board in a meeting on Wednesday perused the relevant documents and has “taken serious cognizance of the conspiracy to use fabricated documents in order to misuse the company’s goodwill, brand, and registered trademark.”
It said the board has constituted a special committee of directors to look into this and take appropriate legal action. Managing director Abhishek Lodha has requested not to be part of this committee and the same has been accepted, it added.
In January, Macrotech Developers filed a suit in the Bombay High Court against HoABL for infringement of its trademarks and sought damages of `5,000 crore. The court has sent the dispute for mediation and appointed an arbitrator to conduct the proceedings.
Macrotech further alleged that to support their application, a copy of PAN card of the independent director was attached. On verification of PAN cards by the company, it was learnt that signature and photograph have been changed.
“This signature is not his signature and is significantly different from his true signature,” it said .
Macrotech said the independent director has also confirmed that he has not certified any such resolutions, the signature on the said board resolutions is not his, and the PAN card copy attached is different from his actual PAN card.