A Division Bench of the Calcutta High Court on Tuesday rejected appeals from the West Bengal Government, Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) and the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation (WBIDC) challenging The Chatterjee Group’s (TCG) objection to HPL’s stake sale.
The West Bengal Government owns a nearly 40 per cent stake in HPL through WBIDC.
In a case filed before the Court, TCG challenged the State’s ownership of a greater than 9 per cent stake.
TCG controls 41 per cent of HPL.
Justices Subhro Kamal Mukherjee and Asim Kumar Mondal dismissed the appeals from the State as “infructuous”.
The dispute over the control of a 9 per cent stake will now be decided by a Single Bench of Justice I.P. Mukherji.
Stay ordered
Justice Mukherji has ordered a stay on the transfer of disputed shares “till further orders”.
“Hearing on transfer of shares would now be taken up by the Single Bench of Justice Mukherji,” said Sidddhartha Mitra, the advocate appearing on behalf of TCG.
According to Pratap Chatterjee, advocate appearing on behalf of HPL, the Court has not stayed the transfer of shares.
But, he did not clarify if he is talking about the disputed shares (15.5 crore) or the entire 67.5 crore share.