Birla Corporation, the flagship company of M P Birla group, did not take any decision on its next chairman at the board meeting held in Kolkata on Tuesday.

The board of the Birla Corporation only took up the scheduled items which mainly included the financial result of the company in the first quarter of the current fiscal.

• Birla vs Lodha: War over a will

"The new chairman issue did not come up for discussion," the IDBI nominee in the board, Vikram Swaroop, told newsmen after the meeting.

He, however, said that the meeting was presided over by Rajendra Singh Lodha, the co-chairman.
             
Lodha, who is involved in a legal battle with the Birla family on the disputed will of Priyamvada Birla, did not make any comment on the controversy, but said that decisions had been taken in the benefit of the company.

"Whatever has been decided in the board meeting today was for the benefit of the company and you will come to know about this very soon," he told newsmen.

He, however, did not speak much as a large number of the security personnel deployed by the company in view of the presence of media persons, whisked him away.

It was for the first time that Lodha came out in public since the controversial will of Priyamvada Birla, the chairperson of the M P Birla group who died on July 3, was opened on July 12.

Interestingly the day's board meeting of Birla Corp was also attended by Nandini Nopany, daughter of K K Birla, the seniormost among the Birla clan.

All the nine board members of Birla Corp attended the meeting.

Nopany is the only member from the Birla family who is on the board of Birla Corp.

She, however, declined to comment after the meeting.

Swaroop said that all decisions at the day's meeting, which lasted for nearly one and half hours, were unanimous but did not give further details.

The Birla clan have declared that they were going to contest Lodha's move to legally authenticate the will of Priyamvada Birla by which he would get the entire assests of M P Birla group valued at over Rs 5000 crore (Rs 50 billion).

Lodha had filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court only yesterday to probate the will, while Birlas had filed a caveat so that a decision on legal authentication of the will should not be taken without hearing them.

Lodha had been very close to M P Birla during his lifetime and helped his wife, Priyamvada Birla, in running the affairs of the company since his death in 1990.

Lodha had been made the co-chairman of the company five years ago and all eyes were on today's board meeting of the Birla Corp to see whether there was any move by Lodha to elevate himself to the post of chairman of the company, a post held by Priyamvada Birla.