Harsh Vardhan Lodha has been reappointed on the board of Birla Corporation, overcoming a temporary legal challenge posed by the Birla family.

The resolution to Lodha’s directorship — he is the chairman of BCL — was carried by a 97.98 per cent majority in the annual general meeting of the company, stock exchange filing showed, underlining the limited influence of the administrator pendente lite committee on the affairs of MP Birla Group.

The APL committee, entrusted by Calcutta High Court to protect the estate of late Priyamvada Devi Birla, had asked all trusts and companies forming the promoter group of BCL and other MP Birla Group firms to vote against the resolution to Lodha’s reappointment in BCL and Universal Cable, and profit-linked commission paid to him in the four listed companies of the group. They did not.

The Birlas — who were baying for ouster of the Lodha family from the control of MP Birla Group for the last 16-years — went to court to enforce the direction of the APL committee but a division bench of HC decided not to adjudicate on the matter now.

“Having exhaustively heard the parties and considering the materials placed, the Court does not intend to examine the rival contentions at this stage on merits,” the order of bench, comprising Justice Biswajit Basu and Subrata Talukdar, said.

The bench further added that the steps taken in relation to the resolutions disputed by Birlas shall abide by “such final order as may be passed by the Hon’ble single bench”.

The single bench, which is also hearing the probate of a will by Late Priyamvada bequeathing her assets to late Rajendra Singh Lodha, father of Harsh in 2004 — Birlas have contested the will — is already hearing a batch of applications that relates to the similar directions passed by the APL committee in 2019. The “main issue” as referred by the DB, is whether the probate court has jurisdiction on the matter.

Birlas said that the court order, “leaves the stay of H.V. Lodha in the four manufacturing companies at the mercy of the courts”, undermining the overwhelming voting in favour. Lodha was appointed on the board of Universal Cable with 99.27 per cent votes cast in his favour, while resolutions to profit linked commissions were all passed by over 97 per cent majority.

Earlier in the day during the AGM, the company guided that expansion at Muktaban is on track and to be completed by the second quarter of 2021 and BCL plans to achieve a 25 million tonne capacity by 2025.