Calcutta High Court today passed an order directing that the probate proceedings of Priyamvada Birla's will of 1999, bequeathing all assets and properties in favour of Rajendra Singh Lodha, be heard first. It thereby kept the probate application of the mutual wills of 1982 filed by the Birla family, in abeyance. As a consequence, Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta discharged Lodha's caveatable interest in the 1982 will of Priyamvada Birla and reserved judgement on the M P Birla's will.The order states that the court decides the application for granting probate to the latter will be taken up for consideration first. Thereafter the application for grant of probate of the former instrument will be considered if it calls for and depending on the result of the application of Lodha.The judge further recorded "no objection" from S Sarkar, counsel for Kashi Nath Tapuriah.The order added, "In view of the fact, I discharge the caveat lodged by Lodha and I decide to hear the application for the grant of probate of the will of the latter instrument and of course, the application for former will be also appearing along with the matters in the list."N G Khaitan, solicitor for the Birla family, said his client's application for discharge of Lodha's caveatable interest had been accepted. He, however, said that further caveats could be filed on behalf of other executors.So far, caveats had been filed by two sisters of M P Birla "" Lakshmi Newar, Radha Mohta "" and K K Birla, B K Birla, G P Birla and Yash Birla.The executors of the 1982 will who had not filed caveats were P K Khaitan and Kashi Natha Tapuriah common executors for the 1982 wills of M P Birla and Priyamvada Birla.Both sides claimed victory for different reasons. Khaitan said, his discharge application had been allowed. For the Lodha camp, the hearing of the 1999 will first was a step forward. If the court decided to hear the 1982 wills first and granted probate, it would have been a major setback for the side, as probate can be granted only to one will.Meanwhile, the Birlas have also filed application for appointment of an administrator. The application was filed by Lakshi Newar, Radha Mohta and the four caveators. Khaitan said, the moot point of the application was the petitioners asked for protection of the estate and property of M P Birla till probate was granted.Counsel for Birla group sought an order on the petitions for appointment of administrator relating to maintain of status quo on the shares held by late Priyamvada Birla in different companies. Justice Sengupta will consider the matter on December 21.
