The court battle between Sanjay Gupta on one side and Vinod Bacchan, IFTPC and FWICE on the other culminated yesterday with the High Court ordering Sanjay Gupta to deposit Rupees Twenty Lakhs in the Court within a specified time period.

The Court also stated that in case of default by him in the payments to the Court, the non-co-operation directive instituted against Sanjay Gupta by the JDSC of the FWICE & IFTPC would once again become operational and the amount deposited till then would be forfeit. The court granted Vinod Bacchan a certain time period to institute legal proceedings to recover the money.

It may be recalled that various accusations had been made on Twitter and in the press by the IFTDA President Ashok Pandit against the FWICE President Kamlesh Pandey and Gen. Secretary Dilip Pithva casting aspersions on their intent and character. There were also reports in the press of affiliates opposing the FWICE on this matter.

We spoke to Kamlesh Pandey on this matter and he said "90% of the affiliates who had earlier been made to sign a paper by Ashok Pandit opposing the FWICE decision had withdrawn their objections the very next day itself stating that they had been misguided and misled by Ashok Pandit. This verdict vindicates the impartial stand taken by the JDSC of the FWICE and IFTPC."

Dilip Pithva stated, "The new committee of the FWICE has fearlessly and impartially taken concrete action against defaulter members and producers alike and is committed to making the Film and TV industry a professional and better workplace environment.