HC orders breaking of Birla’s lockers

In a new twist to the legal battle between Birlas and Lodha over the assets of M.P. Birla, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed tha...

In a new twist to the legal battle between Birlas and Lodha over the assets of M.P. Birla, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday directed that lockers, safes and almirahs of Priyamvada Birla be opened with duplicate keys or broken open to enable court appointed special officers to prepare inventory of her personal belongings.

Justice Kalyanjyoti Sengupta passed the order after the counsel for two sisters of M.P. Birla, Laxmi Devi Newar and Radha Devi Mohta, submitted that the special officers could not prepare the inventory because the keys of certain lockers, safes and almirahs were not available.

The court ordered that arrangements for providing duplicate keys of lockers, safes and almirahs at Kolkata, Mumbai and New Delhi be made first and if unavailable then these should be broken open for special officers to prepare the inventory.

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The court had earlier appointed four special officers to prepare an inventory of personal belongings of Priyamvada Birla at her houses in Kolkata, New Delhi, Mumbai and Allahabad.

The direction had come following an application by the two Birla sisters stating that there was large number of valuable articles, movable goods, antiques, ivory work and works of art lying at Priyamvada’s houses which should be listed for further adjudication.

Both the Birla sisters had earlier filed caveats against Lodha’s probate application for legal authentication of the purported will of Priyamvada Birla.

Meanwhile, a division bench comprising Justice Pinaki Ghosh and Justice P.N. Sinha on Wednesday could not take up Birlas’ appeal challenging dismissal of three caveats from Birla side because Lodha’s counsel Pratap Chatterjee was not ready with the brief. The matter would be heard on Thursday.

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