The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday appointed three professionals from different fields to act as administrators to the estate of the late Priyamvada Devi Birla whose will is a matter of dispute between the Birlas and the Lodhas.
Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta appointed Prodosh Kumar Mullick, a senior advocate and Bar-at-Law, Asish Kumar Bhattacharyya, chartered accountant and faculty member of IIM, Calcutta, and Sukumal Chandra Basu, former Chairman and Managing Director of Bank of Maharastra as independent administrators.
The court had passed the order of appointment of three independent administrators to the estate on August 27. The order did not include the companies of the M. P. Birla group.
The court allowed the administrators charge over Priyamvada Birla's personal shares in different companies.
The dispute began after the death of Priyamvada Birla on July 3, 2004, when R. S. Lodha, a Chartered Accountant, had claimed that she had willed away all her property and her pre-deceased husband M. P. Birla's assets in his name.
The Birla family challenged a probate application by Lodha and several civil and criminal cases ensued in the matter.
Before the probate proceedings could start, Lodha died on October 3, 2008.
His son Harsh Vardhan had then filed a petition.
