K. VINOD CHANDRAN, J.

1. Sibling rivalry, history reveals, has been the major cause of downfall of kingdoms and empires; which remains the bane of the empires of the modern world - the business empires. Kuruvila Onnittan, formed a business group, under the name of 'St.Mary’s Group’, which diversified into various business ventures. His five sons, though some initially engaged in other vocations, followed his foot-steps in business and set up various businesses. Three of the said sons of Kuruvila Onnittan are no more. The remaining two with the progeny of the deceased three, are now orchestrating the dissolution of their business empire, which include the St.Mary Hotels Private Limited (for brevity SMHPL), T.O.Abraham & Co. Engineers & Contractors Pvt. Ltd. (for brevity ACECPL), M/s. Cavunal Rubber Estate, St.Mary’s Motors, Travancore Bankers and so on and so forth.

2. The five sons of Kuruvila Onnittan are T.O.Kuriakose, T.O.Zachariya, T.O.Baby, T.O.Abraham and T.O.Aleyas, in order of their birth. Only the youngest two are alive now and they belong to two different groups. One son of deceased T.S.Zachariya aligns with T.O.Abraham. All the other children of the three deceas