KOCHI:The last hope of revival of the crisis-ridden industrial unit, Vaigai Threads at Koratty, which which remained closed since January 23, 2013, following labour dispute, has taken a serious blow with the Karnataka High Court appointing a liquidator to take over the company and properties attached to it. Official liquidator Jayakumar from Karnataka visited the closed down unit in Koratty on Wednesday evening and took stock of the inventory in the company after pasting a court notice on its compound wall.
The official liquidator has now been authorised to sell the building and the machineries along with all the infrastructure facilities extended to it, to meet the outstanding liabilities of the company and labourers. The liquidator accompanied by Kerala High Court staff also informed the details of liquidation to the representatives of labourers here, who in turn gave a memorandum to the court officials for the consideration of court.
The HC appointed liquidator on a plea by the company seeking winding up of the ailing unit and the compensation for their proprieties in Kerala. Speaking to ‘Express,’ Kishore, convenor of the joint committee of the employees associations at Vaigai, said the liquidator will auction the company properties to meet the arrears of labourers who had been working here at the time of closure and the remaining fund will be given to the company owners and the land to the government to here. After the company closed down its unit and later the state government announced that it would take over the company, the prolonged discussions between government, labourers and company management at the official level failed to reach an agreement. Following this, the company had moved the Karnataka High Court seeking liquidation, he said. As the talks at the official level remained inconclusive, the government had not reemitted its share of provident fund and other benefits due to the workers, even though they were given the share of benefits from the company after the takeover announcement, he added.
The Vaigai Thread Processors, formerly J&P Coats, was started on 98 acres of land given on a 99-year lease by the government in 1952. In 1980, it merged with Madura Coats Limited and it was declared locked out in 1993 and did not function for the next five years and it was finally handed over to Vaigai Thread in 1996.