Basu Govt Mulls Probe Into Dunlop Operations

The Jyoti Basu government in West Bengal is mulling a probe into the alleged financial irregularities in beleaguered tyre giant Dunlop India Ltd. It is examining the legal aspects of the matter.

State labour minister Santi Ranjan Ghatak yesterday said finance minister Asim Dasgupta has already directed the authorities in financial institutions to investigate the alleged transfer of funds by the Dunlop management and check sales proceeds.

Ghatak, who held a high-level meeting with officials of his department yesterday to find out a solution to the problem spawned by the lock-out in Dunlops Sahaganj factory in Hooghly district, said the FIs had been told to submit a report of their investigations to the state government.

 

He said the state labour department was also trying to contact the top management of Manu Chabbria-controlled Dun-lop India to ensure that the suspension of work notice at Sahaganj could be lifted as soon as possible. However, Ghatak said that legal options had been kept open if the governments efforts for a negotiated settlement failed. If the suspension was prolonged it could be declared illegal by the state government under section 10(3) of the Industrial Disputes Act, said labour department sources.

However, in doing so, the government may have to face complications, inclusive of the management going to court to challenge the order. The case could also be referred to the labour tribunal, jeopardising chances of an early settlement of issues between the management and workers.

Basu said the financial affairs of Dunlop had raised doubts about the mangements intentions. The unions have charged the management with manipulating the annual report for 1996-97.