Lodha to contest new Birla wills

R S Lodha vowed to fight the unregistered twin wills of Madhav Prasad and Priyamvada Birla dating back to 1982, filed for probate by the Birla side today to secure the assets of the M P Birla group for charity.

"We received a typed copy of the twin wills only this afternoon after asking for it, for they were mentioned in the Birla reply to the petition filed by my client in the matter", said Debanjan Mandal of the solicitor firm Fox & Mandal acting on behalf of Lodha.

The Lodha side said the contention that Priyamvada had only a life interest in the assets appeared weak as para 2 of both the wills stated that the property was being left "absolutely" to the other. "The word has a meaning in law", he said.

The Lodha side had filed several caveats in its fight against the Birlas. "The interest of our clients in this case has been protected through a series of steps", said Mandal.

The wills were not registered and no attempt had been made to obtain a probate after M P Birla died in 1990. Priyamvada died on July 3, 2004.

Litigation by the Birla families and some associates seeking appointment of a receiver for the M P Birla group was also understood to be in the pipeline, but Mandal denied any knowledge about the matter.

Lodha has defended the valuation of Rs 3.5 crore mentioned as the value of the assets held by Priyamvada Birla in the Lodha application. "The valuation has been done on the basis of tax returns filed by Priyamvada Birla and accepted by the tax authorities", Mandal said.

In keeping with Birla tradition, these companies held shares in the group's public companies through several layers of holdings, he added.