Workers, employees of Gujarat NRE Coke likely to move Supreme Court

Workers and employees of Gujarat NRE Coke are in the process of filing an application with the Supreme Court (SC) to consider their resolution plan, which could not be taken up by the committee of creditors due to paucity of time.

Gujarat NRE Coke Chief Commercial Officer Pawan Kumar Agrawal said that employees and workers submitted the resolution plan towards the end of the process because they were hopeful of a resolution. Agrawal is one of the 1,100 workers and employees who are involved with the resolution plan. 

The resolution plan was submitted by workers on December 30 whereas the 270-day deadline for the company ended on January 1. 

In National Company Law Tribunal’s (NCLT’s) Kolkata Bench, the counsel representing workers, on Monday requested that if an order could be reserved in the wake of a proposed application in the SC. The counsel representing foreign currency convertible bond holders also said that the termination of workers should be on a deemed going concern basis. The matter is again fixed for hearing on Tuesday.

Agrawal said that their bid was slightly better than the liquidation value. “The main point is that we are proposing an independent governing body with nominee directors from the lenders,” he said. Lenders already hold about 33 per cent in the company. 

“We would like to sit with the resolution professional and the committee of creditors and discuss our proposal. But time did not permit us. All along we were hopeful of a resolution first by the promoters and then by Rare Asset Reconstruction (RAR). It was only when both the plans failed that we came into the picture,” said Agrawal. The resolution professional for the company is Sumit Binani.