Manoj Kumar gets relief after 11 years

Bollywood actor and producer Manoj Kumar, incriminated by the film distributors’ association for allegedly not paying commission to a distributor, was given relief by the Bombay High Court recently.

Kumar was fined over Rs two lakh by the Indian Motion Pictures’ Distributors Association (IMPDA) for failing to pay the commission to P V Sanghavi, who was awarded the Mumbai territory distribution rights for the actor’s film in 1991.

The film, ‘Deshwasi’, was produced by Kumar’s brother Rajiv Goswami’s VIP Films Combines, in which the actor had a guest role.

VIP Films had awarded distribution rights of the film to Sanghavi on March 26, 1991 for a period of five years on commission basis.

Even though Kumar was not a party to the agreement, the movie posters and advertisements held Kumar as the presenter of the film.

When VIP Films failed to pay Sanghavi his due commission in 1996, he approached the distributors’ body and sought them to direct Kumar to pay.

However, Kumar told IMPDA that he was not a party in the contract between Sanghavi and VIP Films and that his brother had shifted from the city and settled in Haryana. But the association still directed Kumar to pay up the Rs2.21 lakh commission along with interest to Sanghavi.

Kumar challenged the order in HC. The division bench of Justices R M S Khandeparkar and D Y Chandrachud last week set aside the IMPDA order, saying that Kumar was not a party to the contract.