BHUBANESWAR:The Orissa High Court has stayed liquidation of Orissa Drugs and Chemicals Limited (ODCL), a Central PSU under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers engaged in manufacturing of injections, tablets, capsules, liquid orals and ORS.The stay order came after plant management brought to the notice of the court that the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) certified company has been constantly making profits for the last five years and ready to pay back the principal amount to its financers.
The ODCL, which was set-up at Mancheswar as joint sector unit with the State Government in May 1979, started production in 1984. As it made huge loss, the PSU was referred to Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) in 1992 which declared it a sick unit and ordered for liquidation in 2003.
Subsequently, the then management moved the Orissa High Court against the BIFR order and after a rival proposal was submitted by the shareholder Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Ltd (IDPL) in 2006, the court had stayed liquidation. The company, however, continued to incur loss till the present plant in-charge took over in 2010.
General Manager and plant in-charge TK Pradhan said it started making profit from 2011-12 onwards. “The company which had been incurring loss since inception, made a profit of `75.24 lakh in 2011-12. The profit was `99.12 lakh in 2016-17,” he said.
Since the matter was sub judice, the HC again ordered for liquidation on April 6 as the legal counsels of ODCL and Government of India could not attend the court hearing to submit on behalf of the company.
“Last month the court was apprised about the fact following which it stayed the liquidation order on May 4. The company had a turnover of around `4 crore in May and June. We have set a turnover target of `30 crore this year,” Pradhan said.
“We are, in fact, planning to set up an advanced laboratory to obtain GMP certification from the WHO. We can export drugs after the WHO certification,” Pradhan added.