No relief for Lodha camp; Birla Corp AGM postponed till Aug 24

New Delhi, July 27 (PTI) The Birla-Lodha issue on
control of the MP Birla Estate took a dramatic turn Monday as
the AGM of Birla Corporation was postponed till August 24
after the Supreme Court refused to give relief to Harsh
Vardhan Lodha, who wanted to chair the meeting.

Harsh Vardhan Lodha had moved the Calcutta High Court
challenging the Company Law Board interim order that did not
allow him to chair the AGM of Birla Corporation. But the High
Court judge had refused to hear the matter on personal
grounds.

Harsh Vardhan Lodha's father R S Lodha had staked claim
to controlling Birla Corporation, citing the purported will of
the late Priyamvada Birla, wife of MP Birla, of 1999.

A Bench headed by Justice S H Kapdia, while disposing of
both the petitions filed by Harsh and Birla Corporation Ltd,
refused to stay the AGM, saying it would not like to interfere
when the AGM had commenced since morning Monday.

While chairing the AGM in Kolkata, Director Pracheta
Majumdar announced that in view of the CLB order, and the
subsequent Supreme Court ruling Monday, the meeting is
postponed till August 24.

The Supreme Court Bench came down heavily on the Lodha
camp for filing the special leave petition against the CLB
order in the apex court. "You should have moved the (Calcutta)
High Court seeking to stay the AGM," it said.

After hearing both the sides, the Supreme Court directed
the Calcutta High Court to hear cross-appeals by both Lodha
and Birla family-controlled Rameshwar Jute Mills (RJM) against
the CLB order Tuesday. RJM's plea is already listed for
hearing tomorrow.

"Since the AGM has commenced today, we are of the view
that both appeals be heard together by the company judge
tomorrow on July 28 ...," the Bench said in its order.

Soon after R S Lodha's death last year, RJM Ltd, which
owns shares in MP Birla Group companies, had moved the
Calcutta High Court and the CLB seeking disbandment of the
Lodha family-controlled boards of at least three key companies
— group flagship Birla Corporation, Vindhya Telelinks Ltd and
Universal Cables Ltd. PTI IB
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