KOCHI: Atlas Jewellery India will be holding its annual general meeting next week, amid the troubles surrounding the arrest of its founder M M Ramachandran and the loan default case.
A key item on the agenda for the AGM, to be held on September 28, is a ‘special notice’ to remove members Lukoo Sugunan Madathiparambil and Ajith Kovooril Muraleedharan from the board of directors. The decision comes in the wake of allegation by Madathiparambil and Muraleedharan that they were placed on the board without their knowledge, and that they were just ‘small-time’ employees.
Speaking to mediapersons, Madathiparambil said he was just a Class-X pass doing small-time administrative work at Atlas Jewellery. Muraleedharan said his educational qualification was just Plus-II, contrary to the company’s claim that he was an IT graduate with over six years’ experience.
In the ensuing vacant posts on the board, the company will appoint Supratik Chatterjee and Sunil Pant as independent directors, as per the notice issued to shareholders. Chatterjee has over 36 years of experience in the banking sector, and served in various posts including MD of State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur; MD of State Bank of Hyderabad and deputy general manager (Chennai Zone) of State Bank of Travancore.
Pant, as per the notice, has over 37 years of experience in banking, with the last post being chief general manager of SBI at its corporate office in Mumbai.
Though Atlas Jewellery had decided to re-appoint Shrirang Vasant Khadilkar as non-executive independent director, the company withdrew it after Khandilkar resigned from the board early this month.
Significantly, the AGM notice to shareholders is silent on the arrest of Ramachandran and the reported default on loans worth about AED500 million by the company (about `900 crore) in the Gulf.