Haldiram wins court battle

Begins construction work on its proposed plant at Pantnagar.

Food giant Haldiram has won a legal battle against State Infrastructure and Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL) over its industrial plot at Pantnagar estate.

The company, after taking possession, has started construction work on its proposed factory here and would start production shortly.

Haldiram had moved the Uttarakhand High Court against SIDCUL’s order of cancelling its 10-acre plot for not starting production within a specified period after the allotment. The company was allotted the plot by SIDCUL in 2006 at the key Pantnagar industrial estate where other food giants like Nestle, Britannia and Parley have set shops.

But after taking the possession, the company had dillydallied on its plans to start production. In the meantime, SIDCUL last year served notices to several companies asking them to start production or else their plots would be taken back.

Nearly 20 to 30 plots were cancelled but later SIDCUL gave relief to most of them on the ground that they must start production within a year.

But Haldiram had already moved the high court against SIDCUL. The company had pleaded before the court that since SIDCUL had given relief to several companies on the same ground, its industrial plot could not be cancelled. The high court gave a verdict in favour of Haldiram and allowed the company to start production at the plot.

Sources here said the company was planning to invest Rs 50 crore in the new manufacturing unit where it would be producing snacks, bakery products and various other food items.