Bengal PF dept sells 3 jute cos’ assets

the regional provident fund department has sold in auction the assets and shares of three jute mills in the barrackpore-jagatdal jute belt of north 24 parganas in west bengal to recover long standing dues of about rs 1.5 crore. although the calcutta high court has since stayed the sale and transfer of assets and shares of the three mills, it also directed that status quo should be maintained as on and from the date of the order. now the order, on a challenge filed by the uk holding company of the three mills, was passed on november 9. ironically, the sale was concluded on august 21 and the subsequent completion of formalities were also over much before the court order. the mills are: the samnuggur jute factory, the victoria jute company and the angus company, all in the barrackpore-jagatdal jute belt of 24 parganas. the holding company is the uk-based sterling company azmara plc. although the pf department has attached assets before, this was the first time in the jute industry that the department has actually recovered its dues through an auction sale of the assets. the three mills were bought over in the auctions by r k poddar and his two partners sanjay ostwal and r s poddar. this team had infact earlier been running the day-to-day operations of these three mills which had gone into liquidation long back. the daily operations were being managed by the team with the consent of the official liquidator and with the support of workers and labour unions. the poddars and ostwal combine also runs ganges manufacturing company, which infact was their entry point in jute. in the present case, this combine is understood to have bought over samnuggur, victoria and angus through one of its companies called chief commodity india. azmara plc, formerly known as titaghur plc and its chairman graham avery and others filed a case in calcutta high court against the auctions and sale. there are a number of liquidation cases pending against the azmara plc and its directors in the court. justice a ganguly's interim order of november 9 restrained the petitioners' companies from selling or disposing of, or alienating its assets and properties of the companies without leave of the court. the court also directed the petitioners (azmara plc) to furnish a bank guarantee of rs.5 crore with the court registrar, original side by november 26, 2001. the respondents (pf department) or third parties, if any, were also restrained from exercising any right, title and/or interest in respect of the shares of the petitioners' companies for alienating and transferring the same to the third parties without the permission of the court. this interim order remains valid till december 17. s k poddar for cci did say that the shares were already purchased by his clients and the board of the subsidiary jute companies reconstituted after duly registering the shares with competent authorities. the court gave liberty to the counsel to file an affidavit while ordering maintenance of status quo from the date of the order which was november 11. the statutory liabilities of azmara plc in respect of its indian subsidiaries had long exceeded the actual valuation of assets and shares. such liabilities at present are believed to be more than rs.400 crore including the interest element. sales tax liabilities is about rs.250 crore, pf rs.110 crore and esi rs.60 crore. these huge liablities were one reason why former the indian owners of the three jute mills, the mehtas of thomas duff and jardine henderson, had passed on the burden to r j brealey, a uk citizen, who was later dislodged by his co-director avery in the uk holding company. it is learnt that more than 400 criminal cases had been filed against azmara plc and its subsidiaries by the pf department under pf act. in fact, avery was once put behind bars on charges of repeated pf defaults. subsequently, a token payment of rs.35 lakh was made by titaghur plc. a proposal for pf repayment was given subsequently by titaghur plc through roger gillingham, chief executive of the indian operations, on the condition that avery be released. however, avery left india immediately after his release and the dues continued to remain unpaid.all these prompted pf authorities to attach the title deeds of the assets of azmara plc lying in custody of sancheti co, the solicitor firm of the sterling company. azmara plc and its subsidiaries along with one dipak kumar nath moved a writ petition before the court challenging the attachment and sale of shares. satyajit mitra of h k mitra & co. appeared for petitioners while bikash bhattacharjee and anil gupta stood on behalf of pf department.

Bengal PF dept sells 3 jute cos’ assets

THE REGIONAL provident fund department has sold in auction the assets and shares of three jute mills in the Barrackpore-Jagatdal jute belt of north 24 Parganas in West Bengal to recover long standing dues of about Rs 1.5 crore.

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