The National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT) on Wednesday has said that the Central Government can’t close the two paper mills of Assam.
Also read: Assam: NCLT orders liquidation of Cachar and Nagaon paper mills
In a significant judgment, the NCLAT overruled National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT’s) May 2 judgment to liquidate the Cachar Paper Mill and Nagaon Paper Mill.
Both these mills under Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited have been non-functional since October 2015 and March 2017 respectively and the workers have not received their salaries for more than two years.
Following the NCLT’s May 2 verdict, the Cachar Paper Project Workers Union appealed NCLAT to intervene. On Wednesday, the NCLAT has directed the centre not to close the paper mills.
It has also issued order to the government to retain executives, staffs and all other employees to the job.
The NCLAT, however, said that if the government wants to put the paper mills for auctions, the fate of the employees should be looked into.
At the same time, the NCLAT has asked the liquidator Kuldeep Verma to approach to the government revamp the paper mills and reallocate the staffs and release salary of the employees.
The NCLAT has suggested to take help from the consolidated fund of the government.