Following the dismissal of its petition under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act against Hyderabad-based Kamineni Hospitals by the Hyderabad city civil court, Mumbai-based Wockhardt Hospitals is now planning to knock on the doors of the Andhra Pradesh High Court in appeal. According to sources, Wockhardt Hospitals (WH) is expected to file an appeal against the ruling of the city civil court in the High Court soon. WH would be seeking the appointment of a receiver to manage the two Hyderabad-based Kamineni-owned hospitals under Section 9 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act.
The two hospitals the 160-bed King Koti hospital and the 60-bed cardiac care centre at LB Nagar hospital were being managed by Wockhardt since 2005 till December 2009 as per a 30-year relationship agreement inked by the two. Meanwhile, Wockhardt had earlier also filed an appeal in the AP HC for the appointment of an arbitrator under Section 11 of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act,for which hearings are yet to be held. Incidentally,though the city civil court had thrown out Wockhardts petition, it had allowed the Mumbai-based company to take possession of the hospital records and the equipment they had installed at the two Kamineni-owned hospitals at their own investment.
Wockhardt and Kamineni have been slugging it out in court for the past six months after an ugly spat broke out in December 2009 following Kamineni Hospitals pulling the plug on their 5-year partnership by taking over the running of two hospitals,which Wockhardt alleged was illegal. The Wockhardt-Kamineni partnership started cracking up in 2008 when according to the Kamineni group Wockhardt Hospitals allegedly breached the 30-year contract by showing KH assets as its own when it filed for an IPO in 2008. The cash-strapped Wockhardts Rs 909-crore deal with Fortis, promoted by erstwhile Ranbaxy promoters the Singhs,selling off 10 hospitals in a desperate attempt to settle debts of nearly Rs 600 crore too is understood to be another reason for the bad blood between the two players.
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(source-toi)
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