West Bengal government has taken over management of Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) by installing a managing director (MD) of its choice, outmanoeuvring private entrepreneur Purnendu Chatterjee of The Chatterjee Group (TCG), as per OneIndia. The HPL board wasted no time to induct a new MD after Prabir Bhattacharyya, the incumbent and former Coal India chairman, decided to quit at around 2:30 pm on Monday during the board meeting at West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) office.
The meeting was delayed due to a hearing in Calcutta High Court, which had stayed share transfer for 24 hours. The board, led by the state industries minister, Partha Chatterjee, accepted Bhattacharyya's resignation and replaced him with former bureaucrat Sumantra Choudhury.
Purnendu, who in the past had fought court battles with the Left government and now is engaged with a legal fight with the present government, had picked Bhattacharyya, one of the most successful public-sector chiefs, for the top post at the HPL just over a year ago. The state government wanted a change at the helm of HPL and clearly was not confident of Bhattacharyya's candidature. Bhattacharyya was perceived by the state government as someone who sided with the private promoter. Bhattacharya, who apparently cited personal reasons for his decision was relieved by the Board with immediate effect.
21-Jun-12 
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