The Delhi High Court Friday agreed to hear the plea of industrialist Anil Nanda against turning the Delhi-based Escorts Heart Institute and amp; Research Centre Limited (EHIRCL) into a limited company from a charitable institution.

A single bench of the court had in July last year allowed the plea of Rajan Nanda, Anil's elder brother and the former chairman of Escorts Hospital, to convert the hospital into a company, which was challenged by his brother.

Anil Nanda has sought restoration of the institute to its original status of a charitable trust, but his plea could not be entertained as he had not sought permission of the court before filing the suit as provided in the Civil Procedure Code.

A division bench comprising Justice Mukul Mudgal and Manmohan allowed the plea of Anil Nanda and asked the single bench to hear the matter.

Anil Nanda in his petition had submitted that EHIRCL was a charitable trust established by his father H.P. Nanda in 1981 and the DDA had provided it two acres of land at Rs.10,000 per acre.

He alleged that after the death of his father in 1999, Rajan Nanda and others of the institute hatched a conspiracy to grab its huge reserves and substantial assets by setting up another society with an identical name in Chandigarh.