Calcutta, Sept. 23: An attempt by the Birla family to scuttle the reappointment of Harsh V. Lodha on the boards of seven crucial investment companies of the MP Birla group was foiled by Calcutta High Court today when it shot down a petition seeking the adjournment of the annual general meetings (AGMs) of the companies scheduled for tomorrow.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justice Nishita Mhatre and Justice Tapabrata Chakraborty dismissed the petition of Devendra Mantri and Radha Devi Mohta to stall the AGMs that will take up the reappointments of Lodha and two of his confidants Sushil Kumar Daga and Krishna Damani for three years.

The investment firms such as East India Investment Co, Gwalior Webbing, Punjab Produce and Baroda Agents constitute the promoters' block in most of the listed manufacturing companies of the group, including flagship Birla Corporation Ltd.

The attempt by the Birla family, which is engaged in a decade-long legal battle with the Lodhas for the control of the MP Birla empire, comes months after a similar move when it tried to foil the efforts of Birla Corporation to pass a resolution in its AGM pertaining to the acquisition of a rival company. The Supreme Court did not pass any restraining order then.

Lodha controls the cash cows of the group - Birla Corp, Vindhya Telelinks, Universal Cables and Birla Ericsson Optical - through the investment firms after he became their director in 2004 shortly after the demise of Priyamvada Devi Birla, wife of late M.P. Birla.

Priyamvada bequeathed her entire estate to Rajendra Singh Lodha through a purported will of 1999. Lodha was both the executioner and beneficiary of the will. Even though the Birla family opposed the probate of the will and over 100 cases were filed subsequently, the control of the MP Birla group remained with R.S. Lodha and after his demise in 2008 with Harsh Lodha. Legal circle said the control could have weakened if Lodha's reappointment was stalled.

"It is an important development since the latest attempt to interfere with the management of running companies who are strangers to the probate proceedings have again been nipped in the bud," Debanjan Mandal, solicitor of Lodha and partner of Fox & Mandal, said.

The Lodha counsel pointed out in the court that the board meetings of the companies in question were held on August 27 when the proposal to hold the AGMs on September 24 and the reappointment of the retiring directors was unanimously adopted by the directors. A.C. Chakrabortti, a court-appointed administrator and a nominee of the Birlas, had approved such a resolution in respect of all the companies in which he was a director.