A day after the high court here ordered the winding-up of tyre maker Dunlop India, the promoter of the company, the Kolkata-based Pawan Ruia group, claimed the order would not be a hindrance for the group to sell tyres under the Dunlop brand.
As both the Sahagunj (Hooghly, West Bengal) and Ambattur (near Chennai) plants of Dunlop India were not operating for over a year, it was Ruia Group's Falcon Tyres that has been supplying the ‘Dunlop tyres’ to the market. According to a spokeperson of the Kolkata-based group, this would continue despite the High Court order until the arrangement is terminated.
“There has been an arrangement for long between Dunlop and Falcon Tyres, according to which Falcon pays a certain royalty to market its products under Dunlop brand. This will continue,” said a Pawan Ruia group spokesperson.
Falcon, which has its production capacity at Mysore, manufactures two- and three-wheeler tyres. The products, however, are marketed under the Dunlop brand in Indian market.
In fact, Dunlop India had initiated to transfer its rights to trademarks to one of the Pawan Kumar Ruia group company. The company spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
In yesterday's order, justice Sanjib Banerjee made a reference about how some immovable properties of the company “have been removed from the company’s fold and placed in the laps of other companies under the same management by depressing the actual values thereof”.
“Properties of value in excess of Rs 2,300 crore had been removed from the company without the company meeting the debts of its creditors or even offering the unpaid wages and salaries to its workmen and other employees,” the order noted.
Sources indicated that Dunlop India may appeal against the order before a Division bench.
Workers welcome HC order
Workers’ unions, irrespective of their affiliations, welcomed the HC order. “Ruia never had the intention to run the company. Not for a single day since Ruia took over, has there been production in full capacity. Now at least we will be paid our dues and hope a new management will revive the company,” said Vsaid Bitan Chowdhury, general-secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU)-led trade union at Sahagaunj.
Vidyut Raut of Indian National Trinamool Trade Union Congress (INTTUC)-led trade union in Sahagunj plant, also welcomed the West Bengal government's announcement to take part in the auction process to take over the company.
According to unions, the company is yet to pay 319 people who opted for the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) in 2006 and 300-odd employees who retired after 2009. In fact, workers' unions had also joined the wind-up petition to claim a due of about Rs 70 crore.
