The management of Hindustan Copper Ltd (HCL) has submitted an Action Taken Report (ATR) with respect to all the issues raised during the audit of the company’s books for the financial year 2017-2018.

“An Action Taken Report on all the issues raised by the previous auditor, J Gupta and Co, has been submitted to the new auditor, Chaturvedi and Co, Chartered Accountants, on January 7. It covers all details. Thereafter, till date, we have not received any further query from the new auditors in this regard,” the HCL management told BusinessLine .

“The ATR basically covers clarifications/actions taken with respect to all the issues raised by the previous auditor,” an HCL spokesperson said.

“The ATR is internal in nature. It will be reflected in the current year’s audit report, which will then be in the public domain,” the spokesperson added.

CAG response

An official associated with the development had said that the previous auditor J Gupta and Co had raised about 100 issues.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has responded to only six of them. The earlier auditor also charged that there was a ‘deep-rooted conspiracy’ to drain HCL of its valuable resources for the benefit of others.

HCL management said that the CAG, in its comments on the company’s accounts for the year ended March 31, 2018, had stated that the auditor failed to share any documentary evidence to support its claim.

The spat between the management and the statutory auditor came out in the open when the company’s annual report for 2017-18 was released in September 2018.

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