A division bench comprising the Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court has scheduled day-long hearings on January 6-7 on a bunch of applications and petitions filed by the Birlas and the Lodhas.

The bench will hear the matters throughout the day for two consecutive days to decide the pleas on merit. While Harsh Vardhan Lodha is challenging his removal from the boards of five investment companies, the Birlas have filed contempt petitions against Lodha on his continuation on the boards of listed companies such as Birla Corporation Ltd.

The Birlas have also filed seven cross appeals against the single bench judgment which restrained Lodha from holding any positions within the MP Birla Group.

Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice Shampa Sarkar had previously heard appeals filed by the Lodhas against the single bench judgment of September 18. While the division bench declined an ad interim stay on the judgment of Justice Shahidulla Munshi, it had clarified on the order.

The division bench said Lodha should not hold any office in the group “on the strength of the shares referable to the estate of Priyamvada Birla”, prompting the Lodha camp to argue that it paved the way for Harsh V Lodha to continue on the boards. Thereafter, he chaired the boards of all four listed companies of the group.

However, the committee of administrator pendente lite (APL Committee) did not allow Lodha to participate in the board meetings of the top-tier investment companies of the MP Birla Group.

Subsequently, Lodha was also removed from the boards of these companies and his name was struck off as director by the ministry of corporate affairs, the regulator.

Headed by retired Justice Mohit Shah, the APL Committee is custodian to the estate of late Priyamvada Devi Birla, who by a contentious will, bequeathed the reins of the group to late Rajendra Singh Lodha, father of Harsh, ensuing a decade-and-half long legal battle between the Lodhas and the Birlas. Shah is the chairman of all investment companies.

While the single bench judgment noted that the estate is in complete control of the trusts, societies and companies of the MP Birla group, it also said that these entities are not parties before the court which is hearing the probate of the will.

Birlas cited 21 reasons why the probate court erred by deciding these entities are not within its jurisdiction.