NCLT Delhi Branch rejects application to liquidate the assets of the HPC Cachar and Nagaon Paper Mills

The Joint Action Committee of Recognized Unions (JACRU) of Nagaon and Cachar Paper Mills has revealed in a press release that the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) Delhi Branch has rejected the Liquidator’s fresh application allowing permission to liquidate assets of the Hindustan Paper Corporation Ltd. which includes Cachar & Nagaon Paper Mills, Assam and ordered to abide by the NCLAT order dated May 29, 2019, to ensure that HPC remain a going concern.

Further stating, the press release mentioned that due to non-payment of only Rs 98 lakhs claims of a vendor, Alloy & Metal Pvt Ltd, the NCLT had ordered the liquidation of assets of the Government-owned HPC vide order dated May 2, 2019. The CPPWU(INTUC) challenged the NCLT order at Appellate Tribunal, NCLAT Delhi and the Hon’ble NCLAT passed an order to ensure that the HPC remain a going concern while directing the Government of India to release appropriate funds to ensure that the Corporation remains a going concern.

Unfortunately, the government flagrantly violated the order & did not pay any heed to release funds to revive the Industries. The Liquidator, Kuldeep Verma, failed to bring any viable plan for reviving the Corporation as the Government did not extend any support, and thus filed a fresh application seeking permission for liquidation of the Company. Meanwhile, the Government of Assam via their application dated September 10, 2019, expressed their interest to take over the assets but besides repeated adjournment, the Assam Government failed to submit their final plan or proposal to the Liquidator or before the NCLT.

The NCLT Delhi Bench pronounced order on April 26, 2021, and the copies of the order reached the JACRU yesterday on May 11, which reject the petition of the Liquidator which had applied for permission to liquidate the Corporation and rather directed to obey the Order of the Hon’ble Appellate Tribunal NCLAT passed on May 29, 2019. In the last 5 years since the shutdown of the Nagaon and Cachar paper mills, 85 workers had lost their lives, 4 of them committed suicide, due to non-payment of salary for the last 53 months. Two lakhs families lost their source of employment, thus jeopardizing the socio-economic conditions of the region severely.

The press release then went on to state that the JACRU and all the families of the employees of the two paper mills wish that under the ‘dynamic’ leadership of newly elected Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, the state government, as well as the centre, will come forward to resolve this issue and release pending dues of the workers to arrest further deaths revive the Industries to re-establish lakhs of employment for the unemployed youths. Drawing a comparison with the governments of Madhya Pradesh and Kerala, who on the other hand, took serious initiatives on themselves to revive the centre owned Industries, JACRU asked why the Government of Assam is not able to partake similar measures to revive the HPC industries in Cachar and Nagaon.