Supreme Court Appoints Former Judge Justice Abhay Oka As Mediator In IIFL Finance-Paramvir Developers Dispute

The Supreme Court on Monday appointed former Supreme Court judge Justice Abhay S. Oka as mediator to facilitate a settlement in a dispute between IIFL Finance Ltd. and a real estate developer over a Framework Agreement concerning the settlement of loan facilities.

The agreement relates to the La Maison, Signature Suites, and Celyn real estate projects.

A vacation bench of Justices K.V. Viswanathan and Shree Chandrashekhar passed the order while hearing IIFL Finance's special leave petition against a Bombay High Court judgment dated May 4, 2026.

The High Court had refused to reject Paramvir Developers Pvt. Ltd.'s commercial suit against IIFL Finance Ltd. seeking specific performance of the Framework Agreement

Recording the consent of both sides, the Court observed that an attempt should be made to resolve the dispute through mediation. It appointed Justice Abhay S. Oka to conduct the process.

"Considering the nature of the dispute, we request Hon'ble Mr. Justice Abhay S. Oka, Former Judge of this Court to mediate the dispute between the parties. The learned Mediator is at liberty to fix the terms after discussing with the parties.", the top court ordered.

The Court also recorded the parties' joint request to defer the hearing of the pending suit until the mediation report is received. Both sides also undertook not to precipitate the dispute in the meantime. The matter has been listed in the first week of September 2026.

The dispute stems from a commercial suit filed by Paramvir Developers Pvt. Ltd. and other entities of the Mordani Group seeking specific performance of a Framework Agreement dated December 20, 2024.

According to the plaintiffs, the agreement contemplated a composite settlement of loan facilities availed from IIFL Finance and IIFL Home Finance. As part of the arrangement, development rights in the La Maison and Signature Suites projects were transferred. The plaintiffs also agreed to transfer the Celyn project in accordance with the settlement.

On May 4, 2026, the Bombay High Court dismissed IIFL's application seeking rejection of the plaint under Order VII Rule 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure.

The High Court held that the plaint contemplated urgent interim relief from the plaintiffs' standpoint. It therefore declined to reject the suit for non-compliance with the mandatory pre-institution mediation requirement under the Commercial Courts Act.

The court also observed that the suit for specific performance was not barred at the threshold by the SARFAESI Act or the Specific Relief Act.

For Petitioner: Sr. Advocate Gopal Jain, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas Aor, AOR, Advocates Madhavi Khanna, Animesh Bisht, Isha Malik, Nihaad Dewan, Aniruddh Gambhir, Mitali Jain, Harshit Tyagi

For Respondent: Sr. Advocate Aniruddha Anant Joshi, , Tushar A. Garodia, Misha Rohatgi, AOR, Reehan Ajmerwalla, Neuty Thakkar, Sneha Menon, Hitesh Nagar