GUWAHATI: The Delhi bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) on Friday rescheduled the hearing of the case regarding two non-functional paper mills of Assam to March 5, 2021.
The Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram in Hailakandi district and Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad in Morigaon are units of Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL) and have been non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively.
Irked at the postponement of the NCLT hearing date for the tenth time since September 14 last year, Manobendra Chakraborty, the president of the Joint Action Committee of Recognised Unions (JACRU) of the two paper mills, informed The Shillong Times on Friday evening that the tribunal has disregarded the January 22, 2021 order of the Delhi High Court directing it not to defer the hearing of the case any further.
“The high court order (paragraph 5 clause {i}) on January 22 clearly stated that the NCLT should process the case and next date of hearing before the concerned bench on February 9, 2021… and that the concerned bench is required to take up this matter on that day and pass a suitable order. However, two more hearing dates since then – on February 9 and today, have been rescheduled,” Chakraborty said.
The JACRU president slammed the government and the NCLT, lamenting that 81 employees of the two mills have lost their lives, four of them by suicide, after being unable to bear the cost of medical treatment.
“Yet the government seems to be least concerned about the plight of the employees who have not received their salaries for about four years now. Worse still, no one has come to enquire how we are coping. I fail to fathom why the government is showing such apathy towards Assam and its resources?” he asked.
“We therefore plead before the authorities again… save our staff members or else many more will die,” Chakraborty said.