Liquidator sends notice to vacate HPC quarters; "Save us" Manabendra Chakraborty's appeal to CM

Since the closure of both the Cachar and Nagaon Paper Mills, 89 employees have lost their lives due to the shutdown of the HPC mills. In May 2021, the National Company Law Tribunal (NCTL), Delhi Branch had rejected the application to liquidate the assets of the HPC Cachar and Nagaon Paper Mills. Yesterday, on September 3, the Liquidator of the Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited, Kuldeep Verma has sent an eviction letter to all the erstwhile officers, workers employees of the HPC paper mills asking them to vacate their accommodation/quarters occupied by them within 15 days of this notice.

The notice read “With a view facilitate the sale of NPM (Nagaon Paper Mill) and realise maximum value therefrom, it would be necessary for the liquidator to get vacant possession of NPM land and buildings being put to sale in liquidation.

Since your employment with the Corporate Debtor came to end with effect from 02.05.2019 or earlier due to superannuation/resignation/death or termination from the services of the Corporate Debtor, your occupation of the accommodation/quarters occupied by you is unauthorised and you are required to vacate the same.

The undersigned hereby calls upon all the noticees’ to vacate the accommodation/quarters occupied by them within 15 days of this notice by handing vacant, physical and peaceful possession thereof to the undersigned [through Mr. Moloy Ranjan Thakur (Mobile No. 94350 64959) who is posted as the Authorised Representative in NPM], failing which the undersigned will be compelled to take legal action for getting back vacant possession of the accommodation/quarters in your occupation.”

This eviction notice has come off as an outrageous decision to the hundreds of employees of both the Cachar and Nagaon Paper mills, who are out of work for years and are still awaiting their pending wages. Reacting to this decision, President of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU), Manabendra Chakraborty said, “Mr Kuldeep Verma, who happens to be the Liquidator, has sent out an eviction letter asking all the employees of the HPC paper mills to vacate their quarters and accommodate within 15 days. The same workers who have been deprived of work and wages for years, who waited for month after month to get their due wages, and eventually died out of some illness, are now being asked to vacate their quarters.”

He added, “Till now 89 employees of both the paper mills have been institutionally murdered, out of which 4 committed suicide. I want to ask, if a similar scenario had happened in another state, would they still go on and ask their employees to vacate after all these? I have complete faith on the Judiciary and the NCLT, Delhi Branch has already rejected the appeal to liquidate the assets of the paper mills, and passed an order to ensure that the HPC remains a going concern. If they still want to come and evict the HPC employees, I challenge them that they would have to do it over my dead body.”

Further adding, he said, “I’d request and appeal with my everything to the Assam Government and our Honourable Chief Minister of Assam, Himanta Biswa Sarma, please save the employees of the paper mills from this kind of torture. Because if they still don’t pay attention to this and keep on turning deaf ears, I’m afraid more such tragedies might follow in the coming days. With that being said, I’d still ask them to refer to the recent order made by the NCLT, Delhi Branch which rejected all appeals of liquidation of the assets of the paper mills.”