HC orders winding up of Orkay IndustriesMUMBAI, January 29: The Bombay High Court has issued winding up orders to Orkay Industries Ltd (OIL). The workers and other creditors, who had alleged misappropriation of funds, have been directed to submit their allegations to the official liquidator.In another order, Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde ordered the CBI, Economic Offences Wing to look into the alleged misapplication of funds by the company. A workers' delegation had met Munde on January 11 when the orders were passed.Justice Lodha had heard around 26 petitions filed by secured and unsecured creditors seeking winding up orders of the company. However, while two employees on behalf of the staff of Orkay Polyster opposed winding up orders and instead sought several reliefs, Justice Lodha held that the large liabilties of the company and the fact that it was unable to discharge them outweighed the workers' claims.Orkay Industries Ltd, jointly owned by Kapal Mehra, brother Jitendra Mehra and sonPankaj Mehra, has two factories, one at Saki Naka which manufactures silk fabrics with 800 employees and a modernised factory at Patalganga employing 2000 workers. It owed nearly Rs 30 crore to various creditors.The main petitioning creditor was the Maharashtra State Financial Corporation (MSFC), which had forwarded a bill discounting facility to the extent of Rs 20 crore during June-October 1995. However, OIL had failed to repay prompting the MSFC to approach the court.The company failed to file affidavit in any of the company petitions. Moreover, the company's counsel submitted that he had no defence and it was not in a position to pay its debt.Alleging gross misappropriation of funds, counsel for OIL workers Colin Gonsalves prayed that the winding up order for the company be stayed and the company be referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) for a revival scheme. He said the company has systematically been siphoning off money into a large number of its sister concernsunder the guise of loans and investments.In fact, unknown to the employees, the counsel claimed that Orkay had made attempts to sell its Patalganga unit and an advance of Rs 38 crore was recieved from JVG Industries Ltd. Gonsalves urged the court to freeze Orkay's deposits in Mashreq Bank and Air-India building.The counsel also prayed that the company be directed to furnish audited accounts for the 1995-1998 period and a committee of enquiry headed by a retired high court judge be constituted to enquire into the allegations of fund misappropriation.However, Justice Lodha held that the order of the winding up of the company was inescapable and the grievances of the workers could be taken care of by the detailed order.
