Court allows HPL to proceed with board meeting

21-Mar-07

Calcutta High Court on Monday, rejected a plea for an injunction sought by The Chatterjee Group of Purnendu Chatterjee, allowing Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd. (HPL) to proceed with its scheduled board meeting Tuesday. Among the proposals before the board is reappointment of managing director Swapan Bhaumick for a period of three years. TCG had moved court to stall the board meeting but the Calcutta high court did not accept the plea. While permitting the meeting, the HC has stipulated that any decision on the proposed appointment would be subject to final order of the court. The West Bengal government is in favour of Bhaumick’s re-appointment as HPL’s performance has improved with record net profit expected for 2006-07. The Chatterjee Group (TCG) had also filed a cross-appeal challenging the order passed by the CLB on transferring of shares to Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the government-owned oil major whose proposed entry into HPL as a shareholder at the invitation of the state government had prompted Chatterjee to petition the CLB.