Appearing for the Birlas, barrister Satyabrata Mukherjee submitted before Justice Kalayanjyoti Sengupta that large scale changes had been made in the boards of some companies of the group by Lodha and sought protection of the estate so that his clients were not prejudiced.
He submitted that in six companies, including Mazbat Properties and Mazbat Investments, Lodha's son Harshvardhan was appointed director on June 14 and June 15 this year, few days before the death of Priyamvada, which he claimed was very "unnatural".
He also submitted that Lodha had grossly "undervalued" the property of Priyamvada Birla as only Rs 3.52 crore (Rs 35.2 million) claiming that the actual value of the assets was around Rs 2,500 crore (Rs 25 billion).
He alleged that Lodha, in this manner, was trying to "grab" the property of M P Birla group and this should not be permitted as litigation over the assets is pending, and sought appointment of administrator for the assets.
In his counter-petition Lodha, however, sought dismissal of the Birlas' application for appointment of administrator stating that the Birlas had made an identical petition before the company law board but failed to obtain order of appointment of administrator.
Birla vs lodha: War over a will
Mukherjee also submitted that status quo should be maintained in respect of direct and indirect properties that were under the control of Priyamvada and shareholding pattern should not be changed.
Barrister Samaraditya Pal also argued for Birlas and submitted that Priyamvada was suffering from several ailments and had a kidney transplant in the mid-1990s.
Lodha's lawyers Anindya Mitra and Debanjan Mondal, however, rejected this proposition and prayed that status quo should be maintained only on properties mentioned in the affidavit of assets given by Lodha.
Justice Sengupta, who had expressed his inclination to issue an interim status quo order if both the parties agreed on the nitty gritties, observed that as there was no agreement on the issue between the Birlas and Lodha, he would pass an order only after hearing the parties extensively.
The matter would come up for hearing again on Wednesday. Birlas and Lodha are engaged in a legal battle for the control of the city based group with Birlas challenging the genuineness of the purported will of Priyamvada, the widow of M P Birla who died on July 3.
As per the disputed will the entire assets of the M P Birla group worth over Rs 5000 crore (Rs 50 billion) would go to Lodha, a chartered accountant who was appointed co-chairman of the company five years ago.
The Birlas argue that the assets should go to charities as per the purported joint will of M P Birla and Priyamvada Birla made in 1982.
