THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will appeal against the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) order to hand over the SAIL-SCL Kerala Ltd to Chhattisgarh Outsourcing Services. Industries Minister P Rajeeve said that the tribunal did not hear the state government’s version and that the handover would be against the conditions laid out by the government while leasing out land to the company.
“The company is a joint venture of the central PSU Steel Authority of India and state-run Steel Complex Ltd. The tribunal order on May 2 followed the default in repayment of Rs 45 crore loan taken by the company from the Canara Bank during the UDF government’s tenure. The handover order is based on the resolution plan submitted by the Chhattisgarh Outsourcing Services,” the minister said in a statement here on Wednesday. The company came to a partial closedown in 2014 and closed in December 2016.
The minister said that land owned by Steel Complex was utilised for the loan in violation of the lease conditions. The state government had tried to resolve the issue before it came before the NCLT.
Rajeev said that he held three meetings with the Canara Bank and the latter had agreed to a one-time settlement.
“It is a mystery that the bank later approved the resolution plan though it would help in recovering only a portion of the due amount. The Steel Authority of India too did not show interest in protecting the public sector enterprise,” the minister said.
He said the advertisement inviting revival proposals for the company appeared only in a vernacular daily.