Bengal pulls off coup at Haldia; appoints its man as MD

The West Bengal government on Tuesday pulled off a boardroom coup at the ailing Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd, seizing total management control by appointing a former bureaucrat, Sumantra Choudhury, as managing director in place of Partha S Bhattacharyya, who dramatically resigned in the middle of the board meeting.

In what has all the appearances of an orchestrated move, the board waived the normal three-month notice period and accepted Bhattacharyya's resignation with immediate effect; and quickly appointed Choudhary, the state's former transport secretary, to replace him. The board is dominated by the West Bengal Industrial Development Corporation and bankers to the company.

Private promoter Purnendu Chatterjee, who has been battling with the state government for control of the company, left the board meeting midway in disgust.

The alacrity with which the resignation was accepted and the new appointment pushed through is expected to be challenged in court, creating another case in the litigation-riddled project that was once a showpiece investment trophy.

HPL's co-founders, The Chatterjee Group (TCG) and WBIDC, have been fighting legal battles over management control of the firm for the past seven years. They own 41 per cent and 40 per cent respectively in HPL. Both claim they have a majority stake in HPL, but the ownership of a decisive block of shares is yet to be settled.

Meanwhile, loss-making HPL has had to scale back production to 50-55 per cent of full capacity for want of working capital.