UK billionaire’s family dispute laid bare by court rulings

A dispute at the heart of one of Britain’s wealthiest families was laid bare on Friday by court rulings which showed that a judge had, at one stage, considered placing the billionaire patriarch into a public nursing home over concerns about his welfare.

Mr Justice Anthony Hayden, sitting in London’s Court of Protection, a specialist part of the High Court that decides on financial or welfare matters on behalf of vulnerable people, raised concerns that the care of Srichand Parmanand Hinduja, 86, who suffers from dementia, had been “marginalised” owing to a family feud.

The Hinduja family were named by the Sunday Times Rich List in August 2022 as Britain’s richest family with a £28bn fortune. Srichand Parmanand Hinduja is the oldest of four brothers and the Hinduja Group employs about 200,000 people around the world in sectors including banking, finance, transport and energy.

The Hinduja case, which was lodged at the Court of Protection in June 2020, centred around a legal challenge by Srichand’s younger brother, Gopichand Hinduja, in relation to a lasting power of attorney award made in 2015 in favour of Srichand’s wife and daughters.

A separate civil High Court lawsuit was lodged by Srichand Parmanand Hinduja against his three brothers concerning the validity of a July 2014 letter signed by all of them, which claimed that any assets held in any single brother’s names belong to all four. This case, which was lodged in 2019 and was due to come to trial in 2023, has now been settled.

Justice Hayden’s two August 2022 rulings can now be reported after the Court of Appeal said on Friday that Hinduja could be named following open justice applications by Bloomberg and the Press Association. Court of Protection judges usually rule that vulnerable people in such cases cannot be named in media reports to protect their privacy rights.

Justice Hayden said in his ruling handed down in August 2022 that the Court of Protection proceedings “appear at times to have been used as leverage in the commercial litigation”.

He said he agreed with arguments that: “Notwithstanding Srichand Hinduja’s wealth and the outward respect that is afforded to him, his needs have become marginalised in a family dispute.”

At the time, the judge concluded that Srichand Hinduja should leave hospital but his relatives had not found private accommodation for him despite “my repeated and strongly expressed comments to the Hinduja family and the extraordinary scope and reach of their financial capacity”.

He added that he had been “driven to consider a placement in a public nursing home”. 

The judge ruled that Srichand Hinduja’s “vulnerability, despite all these protections, is both truly alarming and profoundly sad. Moreover, it is in my judgment, a legitimate matter of public interest”.

The Court of Appeal ruling on Friday noted that the Hinduja family had now reached “a confidential agreement concerning the Chancery proceedings and other litigation abroad” and noted that currently Srichand “is cared for in a private residential setting”.

In a statement on Friday, Srichand Hinduja’s three brothers and their families said: “The Hinduja family matter regarding the health and welfare of SP [Srichand] has already been resolved amicably between all parties and today’s judgment solely concerned whether those matters should remain private.”

Srichand Hinduja’s two daughters Shanu and Vinoo said: “We have noted the lifting of reporting restrictions announced in the London High Court today. We welcome the transparency that this ruling will bring to the proceedings, so long as the dignity of our beloved S P Hinduja and his wife of 59 years, our mother Madhu Hinduja, remains protected.”