All is not well; Snapdeal’s Kunal Bahl, other executives summoned over non-payment of dues

A Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in Bengaluru has summoned Snapdeal over non-payment of dues of the Bangalore Fashion Week.

The court has summoned Snapdeal’s owner, Jasper Infotech, co-founder Kunal Bahl and nine other executives. A case has been filed by Dream Merchants, the events company which organises Bangalore Fashion Week bi-annually.

As per the complaint, Snapdeal signed up a three-year contract as a 'powered by' sponsor for six editions of the Bangalore Fashion Week but the company, Dream Merchants, did not receive the promised sponsorship of Rs 25 lakh in January 2016. The event management company approached the court due to non-payment of dues in March 2016.

Furthermore, the company claimed Snapdeal backed out of the Bangalore Fashion Week 15 days before the event in violation of the contract.

Founder of Dream Merchants, Feroz Khan, alleged Snapdeal has to pay Rs 75 lakh.

"While there was a 60-day exit clause, they violated the contract by backing out 15 days before the event (scheduled to take place in February 2015).No reason was provided. Despite no funding, we went ahead with our event incorporating their logos.Snapdeal did not honour the invoice or notices sent later. They kept passing the buck. Amit Maheshwari, the then vice-president of marketing (fashion vertical) at Snapdeal, who had initiated the collaboration, refused to pick up our calls. We want compensation for the losses borne," Khan told ET. He added that Snapdeal had also committed to upgrade to title-sponsor for the July 2016 edition of the event for an amount of Rs 75 lakh.

The clause of the contract signed by Snapdeal also forbade the event organisers from working with competitors of the marketplace for the duration of the contract.

Snapdeal said that it has not received any summon from the court yet, a copy of which was reviewed by ET. The platform has been asked to respond to the summons by May 27, 2017.

"The company will take appropriate legal recourse in the matter," said a Snapdeal spokesperson in response to a detailed query sent by ET.