Verify age of paper and ink of Lilavati documents: HC

Bombay HC directs the Chief Examiner of Documents to verify the authenticity of the disputed documents concerning the Lilavati Hospital Trust case, reports Urvi Jappi.

The Bombay High Court on Thursday directed the Chief Examiner of Documents to verify the authenticity of the disputed documents concerning the Lilavati Hospital Trust case and if need be, the age of the paper and ink should also to be verified.

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Vacation judge Justice Roshan Dalvi directed the Chief Examiner to verify the disputed documents along with standard documents submitted by Kishore and Vijay Mehta on Thursday.

Kishore and Vijay Mehta, sons of the late Kirtilal Manilal Mehta who formed the Lilavati Kirtilal Mehta Medical Trust in 1978, which manages the hospital, are involved in a complex legal dispute against each other and also involving their respective families.

Kishore had filed a suit alleging that his brother Vijay and sister Rekha Haresh Seth, who is also a trustee, had forged documents and minutes book; and based on these forged documents Vijay was proclaiming himself as a permanent trustee.

The court was hearing an application filed by Kishore seeking that apart from examination of signature by handwriting expert, the age of paper and ink should also be examined.

His lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani argued that the documents alleged to have been forged are of 1995 and were forged recently then the scientific tests would help. Public prosecutor Satish Borulkar told the court they are verifying the documents and would take all the necessary steps required to verify the authenticity of the documents. "If it found that the age of the paper needs to be determined, then we will carry out the necessary tests," said Borulkar.

Kishore Mehta had approached the Girgaon court in May 2006 which was to be investigated by the Girgaon police station. On July 24, the Mumbai Police had ordered Vijay to submit all relevant papers to establish his control on the hospital, following which he had approached the HC. 

Vijay later approached the Bombay High Court in July to quash the complaint. On August 23 and September 8 the HC had directed the Chief State Examiner of Documents to scrutinise the documents and verify its authenticity.

Both the parties were to submit the documents with the Prothonotary and Senior Master of the HC who was to forward the documents to the Examiner in a sealed envelope. However, Kishore sent the documents - Register (minute book) and the letters dated July 21, 1995 and July 22, 1995 - on which all the signatures were disputed on his own to the Chief Examiner along with the documents having standard signatures.

The Chief Examiner had brought this to the notice of the court which in turn had condemned the act. This was done without the knowledge of his lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani. Terming the act as interfering with the court process and bypassing court orders, the HC warned Kishore from doing something like this in future.

Email: urvi.jappi@hindustantimes.com