GUWAHATI: In a development which comes as some succour to the paper industry in the Northeast, the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) has prohibited the shutdown of the two paper mills in Assam.
A three-judge bench of NCLAT headed by Justice S.J Mukhopadhaya on Wednesday ordered the prohibition of liquidation of Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad and Cachar Paper Mill at Panchgram, which are under Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited (HPCL).
The Cachar Paper Project Workers’ Union had challenged the May 2, 2019 order of National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) in the NCLAT.
The NCLT, a quasi-judicial body which adjudicates issues related to Indian companies, had ordered liquidation of the two paper mills on May 2.
Production in Cachar Paper Mill has been suspended since October 20, 2015, while operations at Nagaon Paper Mill at Jagiroad came to a halt on March 13, 2017.
The NCLAT also asked the government not to suspend the employees in both the paper mills. Besides, the tribunal reportedly asked the liquidator Kuldeep Verma to handle the pending salaries and bonus of the employees from the government’s consolidated fund.
“We welcome the development which has coincidentally happened on a day HPCL was incorporated as a company back in 1970. While it is a great relief for us, it is a big blow to the government because an appellate tribunal had to come to our rescue after the government failed to protect the lives of 55 workers of the mills who have died till date,” Cachar Paper Project Workers’ Union president, Manobendra Chakraborty told The Shillong Times on Wednesday.
Senior advocates of Supreme Court, Manoj Swarup and Anish Roy represented the workers union while legal aid was extended by Drishti Foundation, a Guwahati-based NGO.
“We are grateful to our lawyers who represented the union in the NCLAT, and also the NGO who had helped us in extending legal aid,” Chakraborty said.