There was high drama at the 69th annual general meeting of Birla Corporation on Monday, the first after the demise of chairman Rajendra S Lodha last year.
After day-long arguments and counter-arguments on whether son Harsh Vardhan Lodha should be allowed to chair the AGM, the meet was adjourned and a new date set for August 24.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had refused to stay an interim Company Law Board (CLB) order barring Harsh Lodha from chairing the AGM. It all started when Harsh Lodha?s name was proposed for chairing the meet on Monday.
A section of shareholders forced the board of directors to go for a poll following the Supreme Court?s order.
Harsh Lodha had moved the Calcutta High Court and then the Supreme Court, challenging the interim CLB order ?Order of CLB was on the proceedings of today?s meeting. The company appealed at the High Court against that order as the board felt the order was not in favour of the company,? Harsh Lodha, director of the company, said.
The Supreme Court has directed the Calcutta High Court to hear the case on Tuesday morning.
The chairman?s position in Birla Corporation has been lying vacant since October 3 last year, after RS Lodha died of a heart attack in London.
RS Lodha had staked claim to Birla Corporation and the Rs 5,000 crore MP Birla Group, citing the purported 1999 will of Priyamvada Birla, which has been disputed by the Birla family.
After the first round of voting on Monday, when it was decided that Pracheta Mazumdar, a director, would chair the meeting, he took the mike and sought an adjournment of the meeting.
?Our counsel has told the Supreme Court that the meeting will be adjourned today. The view of the legal counsel was that it was not proper to conduct it under restrictions imposed by the CLB interim order,? Harsh Lodha told the media. One of the restrictions was that Harsh Lodha couldn?t chair the AGM.
The directors again opted for a poll on the adjournment as one of the shareholders asked for it. Then, an August date was set for the AGM.