Cuttack: The official liquidator appointed for the State-owned Orissa Textile Mills (OTM) today submitted in the High Court a list of persons and firms which are supposed to receive Rs 115 crore from OTM.
The High Court has asked the Odisha government to deposit Rs 115 crore with the official liquidator by October 15.
The next hearing in the matter has been fixed for October 18.
Earlier last month, the High Court had given six weeks’ time to the official liquidator to come up with a clear picture of the claims and receipts involving the company by engaging a chartered accountant.
OTM was incorporated as a public limited company by Biju Patnaik and Pratap Singh in 1946 and started commercial production in 1950. In 1981 it was taken over by the State government and all the private shares were acquired.
The State government winded up OTM at Choudwar in June 2001 owing to huge financial losses and filed a petition for liquidation in the High Court.
The High Court had subsequently appointed an official liquidator for the purpose.
The liquidation process started under the company judge of the High Court in March 2002. The court had recalled an order for a fresh auction on June 28, 2022, after several attempts at auction of the OTM assets did not yield any fruitful result in all these years.
In August this year, Advocate General AK Parija appearing on behalf of the State submitted that the Handlooms Textiles and Handicrafts department is ready to put in Rs 150 crore for obtaining a permanent stay on winding up of the company.
Parija had further submitted that Rs 5 crore had already been paid to the liquidator by Odisha Infrastructure Development Company Limited (OIDCOL), the State government has deposited Rs 30 crore and a balance deposit of Rs 115 crore is to be made.
On a query from the High Court, official liquidator’s counsel AK Sethi had submitted that approximate, claims are in the region of Rs 184 crore.
Parija had pointed out that the figure includes government dues, which the State will absorb.
On a further query from the High Court, Sethi had submitted that the liquidator office has funds of Rs 35 crore, already deposited and kept in interest bearing account.
Sethi had sought permission to appoint a chartered accountant from the liquidator’s office.
The High Court had granted leave to the liquidator to appoint a chartered accountant to enable to obtain a report from the chartered accountant while adjourning the proceedings for six weeks.
