By IANS
New Delhi : The Supreme Court Thursday reserved its verdict on a bunch of petitions by the Birlas, one of India’s leading business families, and R.S. Lodha, one of their former employees, staking claims and counter-claims on the estate worth over Rs.50 billion.
A bench headed by Justice S.B. Sinha reserved the verdict after hearing arguments by the two parties, going on since Tuesday.
The petitions by two parties were linked to a purported 1999 will of late M.P. Birla’s widow Priyamvada Birla, on the basis of which chartered accountant Lodha had claimed that the entire Birla estate worth had been bequeathed to him.
Lodha had subsequently moved a Kolkata court for mandatory authentication of the will before its execution.
This in turn prompted Birla family members – K.K. Birla, B.K. Birla and Yashovardhan Birla – to move the Calcutta High Court, contending that they too need to have their say in the authentication process and adjudication of Lodha’s probate petition.
But first a single bench and then a division bench of the high court rejected the Birlas’ petitions, staking their claims of having what is legally known as caveatable interest in adjudication of Lodha’s probate petition.
It was against this high court ruling that the Birlas had approached the apex court in February this year.
The Birlas also claim in their petitions that it is their duty to see that the estate is given to three public charities as designated under the mutual wills executed by M.P. Birla and Priyamvada Birla in 1982.
The high court, on the other hand, had also ruled that G.P. Birla, another member of the family, was a named executor in another mutual will of M.P. Birla and Priyamvada Birla dated July 13, 1982 and so only he had the right to challenge the purported 1999 will.
It was against this ruling of the high court that Lodha had approached the apex court.
Senior counsel Rohinton Nariman and Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Lodha, contended that under the 1982 will Priyamvada Birla had got absolute rights on the property and she had bequeathed the entire estate to Lodha after her death in July 2004 through a will of 1999.
Accordingly, the three Birla family members had no caveatable interest in this matter, they said, opposing the petitions by the Birlas.
In the legal row, besides the Birlas and Lodha, there is a third claimant – the legal heirs of late Laxmi Devi Newar, including Nand Gopal Khaitan.
In the mutual 1982 will, executed jointly by late M.P. Birla and Priyamvada Birla, they had also bequeathed a part of the property to some charitable group, headed by Newar.
They too had filed petitions through their counsel submitting that it was the duty of the members of the Birla family to see that the Priyamvada Birla estate was not appropriated and was given to three public charities as designated under the 1982 mutual wills.
Their counsel contended that as trustees and potential beneficiaries under the 1982 mutual wills, the Birlas were duty bound to contest the 1999 will and oppose the grant of probate.