Rajendra S Lodha on Thursday submitted before the Calcutta high court that he had been running the affairs of M P Birla group for the last five years holding important positions without the Birla family raising any objection.
Seeking dismissal of the Birlas' application praying for appointment of administrator for M P Birla group, Lodha's counsel Shaktinath Mukherjee stated that, notwithstanding Birlas' claiming that Priyamvada Birla's purported will of 1999 was unnatural, they had never objected when he was appointed in important positions of Birla Corporation, the flagship company of the M P Birla group, since 1991.
Birla vs Lodha: War over a will
He also submitted before Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta that since 1991, his client, and not members of Birla family, was entrusted with the stewardship of the M P Birla group.
He stated Lodha was the director of Birla Corp from 1991-1996 and was appointed co-chairman of the company in 2001. In between, Lodha was also a director of State Bank of India from 1996-2001, he said.
He submitted that though the Birlas are now claiming that Lodha had got the property of the M P Birla group through fraud, coercion and by exercising undue influence, they had never raised any objection when Lodha, an outsider, was preferred for important positions in M P Birla group, instead of other members of the Birla family.
He claimed that Nandini Nopany, daughter of K K Birla, was on the board of Birla Corp when Lodha was made co-chairman but had not objected to the appointment.
