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Birla group set to drop Lodha & Co as auditor
Kausik Datta in Mumbai |
July 15, 2004 11:19 IST
Lodha & Co is set to be dropped as Birla group auditors following the rumpus over M P Birla group succession.
The audit firm will not be reappointed at the forthcoming annual general meetings of group companies.
"There is a consensus among our family members that in correctness of things at this juncture we should maintain distance from the Lodhas," Sudarshan Kumar Birla, chairman of the S K Birla group, told Business Standard.
The Birla clan -- Krishna Kumar, Basant Kumar, Ganga Prasad, Sudarshan Kumar, Kumar Mangalam and Yashovardhan -- are checking with legal eagles whether the late Priyamvada Birla's will can be challenged on the ground that the assets of a Hindu undivided family cannot be bequeathed to an outsider (Lodha).
The decision to move court has already been taken by the family. Now, they are examining the grounds on which the petition will be filed.
In her will, Priyamvada Birla bequeathed Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) worth of assets of the MP Birla empire to Lodha.
This included the M P Birla group's stake in Pilani Investment and Industries Corporation, the holding firm of the Birla companies.
Basant Kumar Birla told Business Standard from Kolkata: "The solicitor firms are examining all the angels. The dispensation of property of a HUF to an outsider is also a part of this." Lodha & Co is the statutory auditors to close to a dozen Birla companies.