Various unions of Incab Industries have said they want the company to be revived and are against any liquidation or winding up moves.
Senior functionary of The Indian Cable Workers' Union Ram Binod Singh said, "We are not in favour of liquidation of the company as the employees would be losers. They are not going to get the amount which they have claimed with the liquidator. Tata Steel is still a bidder left in the fray. But the steel major is unable to acquire the company because of legal hurdles. We also want the state government's intervention to revive the company."
Incab Industries Employees' Association, the Intuc-affiliated recognised union of the company, also said they wanted a revival of the company at the hands of Tata Steel.
"In 2013, State Bank of India's Calcutta-based recovery branch, which was the operating agency of the company appointed by the erstwhile BIFR had declared Tata Steel as the best bidder. In 2016, too, the Delhi High Court, where cases related to the revival of Incab were pending had declared Tata Steel as a suitable promoter. Therefore, we want the company's revival and are opposed to any liquidation or winding up move," said U.K. Sharma, the general secretary of Incab Industries Employees' Association.
Talking to The Telegraph Online over phone from Calcutta, assistant secretary of Incab Employees Association Aloke Sen said that they were hopeful of a favourable court verdict for reviving the company.
"The liquidator of the company is working against the interest of employees. We are looking forward for a favourable verdict in a case pending with the Calcutta High Court regarding the revival issue. Apart from Incab, Tata Steel and Kamala Mills are party to the case. The court proceedings could not take place during the past three months due to the lockdown," he said.
The senior union functionary went on to say that they are also trying to seek an appointment with Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren to take up the revival issue of the company.
Notably, Sen is one of the signatories of an FIR filed by the officers of Incab's head office in Calcutta on Tuesday (July 14) against the liquidator for sealing the premises.
In fact, apart from the officers, other employees at the head office had also filed a separate FIR with the Hare Street police station in Calcutta, alleging foul play by the liquidator.
Both FIRs apprehended fire mishap, like the recent one at the Jamshedpur unit, since the electrical equipment were kept on. The employees and the officers said in the FIR that in case of a fire, they would lose their claim and other important documents.
Last year, the Calcutta-bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), under a “Resolution Plan”, appointed Shashi Agarwal, an interim resolution professional (IRP), and set August 21 as the deadline for employees and other creditors of the company to stake claim for their outstanding dues.
An IRP is appointed with the power to take charge of the company which has defaulted. The professional's task is to take necessary steps to revive the company. If the IRP fails to find a resolution by then, the company is liquidated to pay the creditors.
