HC upholds caveats filed by Birlas

KOLKATA: The Lodhas appear to have scored a point on Thursday with the appeals court on Thursday, affirming the order of the single judge of Calcutta High Court which had discharged the caveats filed by KK Birla, BK Birla and Yashovardhan Birla. It also upheld Lodha’s caveat to challenge MP Birla’s Will of 1982.

Mr Lodha’s counsel Debanjan Mandal said KK Birla, BK Birla and Yashovardhan Birla have no interest to challenge the Will of Priyamvada Birla and neither do they have a caveatable interest or an interest in her estate. “My client’s contention that the challenge of these three Birlas were totally misplaced, has been upheld,” Mr Mandal added.

In their judgement delivered on Thursday, Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose and Justice Tapan Kumar Dutt dismissed both the appeal and cross-appeal. Only the operative part of the judgment was read out in the Court and the parties were granted permission to obtain copies of the detailed judgement running into dozens of pages.

The probate proceedings will now be contested by the two sisters of MP Birla and by GP Birla. The operation of the said judgement has been stayed for a period of four weeks for the parties to appeal before the Supreme Court.

Both parties placed their views in hurriedly organised meetings of the media to express their official views and as usual, both parties seemed triumphant.

Birla lawyers said that “a division bench of the Calcutta High Court upheld the trial court order retaining the caveat of GP Birla being the executor of the 1982 Will of Priyamvada Birla and the appointment of Yashovardhan Birla as executor to the 1982 Will of MP Birla.”

“The court has dismissed the appeals of KK Birla, BK Birla and Yashovardhan Birla in regard to their caveatable interest. The court has also rejected the two cross appeals filed by Lodha — the first one which challenged retention of GP Birla’s caveatable interest in the estate of Priyamvada Birla and the second one upholding the executorship of Yashovardhan Birla by the trial court,” the Birlas stated in their official communiqué.

Incidentally, Yashovardhan Birla had performed the last rites of both MP Birla and Priyamvada Birla.