Not a master-servant relationship, both are co-founders: Mohit Saraf tells Delhi High Court in plea against Rajiv Luthra

On the second day of the hearing before the Delhi High Court, Mohit Saraf, Senior Partner at L&L Partners, asserted that he and Founder Rajiv Luthra did not have a master-servant relationship. Saraf contended that both were, in fact, co-founders of Luthra & Luthra, which was later renamed L&L Partners. (Mohit Saraf v. Rajiv Luthra).A Single Judge Bench of Justice V Kameswar Rao was hearing Saraf's plea against the termination of his partnership with the firm, effected by Luthra..Last week, the Court had sent the two senior-most partners at L&L Partners to mediation before Senior Advocate Sriram Panchu. A progress report on the mediation was subsequently submitted to the Court. .[Breaking] Delhi High Court sends Rajiv Luthra v. Mohit Saraf to mediation before Sriram Panchu.Appearing for Saraf today, Senior Advocate Parag Tripathi said that although he was hopeful of the mediation process, the same would not serve any purpose in the absence of interim protection from the Court. .Tripathi thus prayed that directions be passed by the Court to restore Saraf's access to his email, office, and the entire IT infrastructure of the firm, so that he may deal with clients. .During the course of the hearing, Tripathi also read out a letter written by Luthra to all partners of the firm, asking them to intimate him whether they had signed any deeds with Saraf. .In the letter, Luthra spoke of Saraf's claim in the pleading that 23 salaried partners had already signed with him. He once again asserted that Saraf no longer had the right to represent the law firm. .Luthra also said that he was surprised by the claim that almost all partners attended the meeting with him on October 15. .Senior Advocate Arvind Nigam also appeared for Saraf. .Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Luthra, opposed the grant of any interim relief to Saraf in view of the ongoing mediation. .Singhvi reiterated that whatever action was taken by Luthra was in accordance with the partnership deed, which gave him the ultimate powers in matters of termination. .The matter will be taken up next on October 22, when the Court will hear the parties on the point of interim relief to Saraf. .The two senior-most partners at L&L Partners have been embroiled in a tiff over the dilution of the firm's equity for weeks now..Even as Saraf rejected Luthra's proposal that all partners holding equity dilute their stake in the firm, the latter went on to induct two equity partners into the firm..Eventually, Saraf wrote to the corporate partners stating that he had accepted Luthra's earlier offer to retire and withdraw from the firm. He also alleged that there were "material breaches of the partnership deed" by Luthra..L&L Partners saga rages on as Rajiv Luthra terminates Mohit Saraf from partnership for "clumsy strategy" on equity dilution.In response, Luthra not only denied retiring from the law firm, but also terminated Saraf's partnership on account of the latter's "clumsy strategy" on equity dilution.