Three directors of Kasturi & Sons Ltd (KSL), publishers of The Hindu – N Ravi, Malini Parthasarathy and Nirmala Lakshman – on Monday withdrew their petition before the Company Law Board (CLB) challenging editor-in-chief N Ram’s move to bar family members from holding senior editorial positions in the company.
Ravi, who is former editor of the daily and Ram’s younger brother, said the petition was being withdrawn as “we have chosen to resign from our positions”. Ravi resigned as editor, Parthasarathy as executive editor and Lakshman as joint editor but the three continue to be directors on the board of KSL.
According to the senior counsel of the faction led by Ravi, the relief sought in the company petition had become infructuous following the resignations.
On July 20, the board had appointed Siddharth Varadarajan, national Bureau chief, as editor of the daily.
Earlier in July, the Supreme Court had refused to interfere with a Madras high court order that vacated a stay on the implementation of the KSL Board decision on The Hindu’s succession and professionalisation plan mooted by Ram.