Harsh Vardhan Lodha removed as director of 4 MP Birla Group investment firms

NEW DELHI:  With the decade-long legal battle between the Birlas and the Lodha Group still running at full steam, Harsh Vardhan Lodha has been removed as a director from the boards of four MP Birla Group investment firms, said a statement from the Birlas on Thursday.

However, Lodha has challenged the move and termed it “illegal”. The tussle between the two has been going on since R M Lodha—the father of H V Lodha— had produced a will from Priyamvada Birla where the Lodhas had been made the sole inheritor of her Rs 5,000-crore estate.

The estate is currently valued at over Rs 25,000 crore. However, on September 18, the Calcutta High Court passed an order restraining him from holding any position in any of the companies in the MP Birla group based on the shareholding of the Priyamvada Birla estate in these firms.

This has resulted in Harsh Lodha ceasing to be a director on the boards of East India Investment, Baroda Agents & Trading Co, Punjab Produce & Trading Co, and Punjab Produce Holdings, show filings with the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs. These filings are based on the APL (administrator pendente lite) committee led by retired judge M S Shah which had been appointed by the court.

The committee had decided to remove Lodha from the directorship of these firms after the September 18 ruling of the Calcutta High Court. The three-member APL panel was appointed by the court to administer the affairs of the Birla Estate. Meanwhile, the Lodha group has filed a petition challenging Lodha’s removal from the boards.