Iconic Postman is up for grabs due to Oomerbhoy family feud

Decades-old feud in the Oomerbhoy family, which owns Postman vegetable oil, has got reignited after a understand appears inviting bids to hire the now-defunct emblem.

Pouring oil over water, it’s not. A discreet understand tucked away in the pages of the morning papers has rekindled a decades-old family feud, leaving the long-lasting vegetable oil emblem, Postman, which had long gone bust in 2001, up for grabs again.

The two branches of the family of Postman founder, Ahmed Oomerbhoy, have been engaged in an excessively public prison wrangle since 2001 over the dissolution of the really extensive belongings owned by the parent company, Ahmed Oomerbhoy Pvt Ltd. After Postman closed down, Ahmed’s son Majid Oomerbhoy filed a case towards his brother Sattar’s three sons, Rashid, Afzal and Imtiaz.

The case in nonetheless pending in Bombay High Court. Following the deaths of both Majid and Rashid, who died this March, their kids are now combating it out in court, with quite a lot of family members ranged on each side.

On Wednesday, Rashid’s kids Riyad Oomerbhoy and Roohi Jaikishan, who are well-known in Mumbai’s social circles, accused their uncle Nadeem, allegedly the followed son of Majid, of putting out the commercial.

Accompanied by the signature symbol of a Postman that used to be observed on packing containers of the fit for human consumption oil, the attention says: “Offers are invited by the undersigned…for grant of an unique license and permission to use the registered logos POSTMAN proven above in appreciate of delicate groundnut oil for sale in the States of Maharashtra, Goa, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat in attention of annual royalty and safety deposit and other phrases and conditions of the License Agreement in an effort to succeed in the administrative center of the undersigned by four pm on 13/07/2018, with requisite deposit of Rs 1,00,000…”

When contacted, Riyad mentioned: “My family has not consented to both the hire or the renting of our emblem. The court receiver, for causes very best known to him, has initiated this procedure arbitrarily. The family will contest this legally over the following days. The Postman emblem is owned by the Oomerbhoy family and not the court receiver, and it's – and can remain -- an asset of the Oomerbhoy family.” Jaikishan for her section added: “After my father’s passing, Postman is owned by my uncles Afzal and Imtiaz, together with Riyad and myself. Whatever has been put in the papers, is not with our blessing.”

Riyad and Roohi’s lawyer Kalpesh Joshi, however, mentioned the commercial should not have come as a wonder because it adopted an arrangement proposed by Nadeem some years in the past. “According to an intervening time arrangement proposed by Nadeem Oomerbhoy in 2013, the Postman emblem could be approved out for a duration of two or three years to whoever could pay for it, and then it could revert to the family, and the family would make a decision what to do due to this fact,” Joshi mentioned.

“Though this proposal used to be adversarial by us, it used to be approved by the order of a single pass judgement on. We had got a keep from the department bench at the authentic proposal.” The keep had probably lapsed since Joshi added that “more just lately, we could not a get a keep on account of the demise of (Rashid Oomerbhoy). But now we will be able to take action and contest this.”

Advocate Zulfikar Jariwala, who represents Majid’s family – Nadeem, his mother Nargis and sister Heena – mentioned the attention has been issued “by the court receiver, pursuant to court orders”, and has not been initiated by his purchasers. “The court receiver would have acted as directed by the court,” mentioned Jariwala. “Why would a court receiver act towards a court order? There is no keep at the matter. And because it’s sub-judice, I don’t need to remark any longer on it.” Okay Ambekar, assistant to court receiver DR Shetty, who has issued the attention, mentioned it used to be issued as in line with orders of the Bombay High Court.

Harsh Mariwala, chairman of Marico Limited, whose products had been competitors to Postman in the 1990s, mentioned the logo no longer has any price. “I don’t suppose any individual would need to buy the logo anymore,” mentioned Mariwala.

“It’s been out of the marketplace for so long and forgotten. It’ll not have any price right now.” In 1998, Marico used to be allegedly keen on acquiring Postman, however the Oomerbhoy family refused to promote it.

However, lawyer Kalpesh Joshi mentioned that the logo nonetheless carried immense price, and there used to be a danger of it being misused. “If we license it out and anyone misuses it, the logo could get significantly devalued. It’s an Oomerbhoy emblem and should remain in the family,” Joshi mentioned.

Postman used to be a market chief in the fit for human consumption oils section for much of the 1980s and some part of the 1990s as smartly, with products from Marico and HUL (then referred to as Hindustan Lever) as its closest competitors.

In 1995, Rashid began his own company, RR Oomerbhoy (RRO), an FMCG which is currently run by Riyad and Roohi. The new company, also in the foods area, has a large product portfolio, starting from quite a lot of varieties of fit for human consumption oils to other foods like cheese, breakfast cereals, pasta sauces and cookies, together with brands corresponding to Express Foods Healthy Breakfast Cereals and Domino’s Cookies.

Riyad Oomerbhoy and his sister Roohi Jaikishan have accused their uncle Nadeem of issuing the attention in the newspapers. Nadeem’s lawyer says the attention used to be issued by the court