Status quo to be maintained at Dunlop India''s sold land in Chennai

Chennai: The executive magistrate and revenue district officer, Ponneri, Tamil Nadu has orders maintenance of status quo in respect of 60.86-acre plot at Ambattur, Chennai sold by Dunlop India Limited to VGN Enterprises.

When queried Dhrubajyoti Nandi, vice president, corporate communications, admitted the Dunlop India's petition in the Madras High Court last week on the issue of ownership of the land had been dismissed at the admission stage itself.

Dunlop India, part of the Kolkata-based Ruia group, is now disputing the 2004 land sale under a scheme sanctioned by the Board of Financial and Industrial Reconstruction (BIFR) as a part of the revival package for the company. At that time the company had received Rs24.34 crore as the sale price.

Now Dunlop India says the previous management from the Dilip Chhabria group had concealed the fact that land could not be sold to third parties without the sanction of the Tamil Nadu government. (See: Chhabrias misled BIFR/AAIFR on Chennai land, says Dunlop India).

To the question whether the company is not opening itself to criminal proceedings for fraud, Nandi declined to comment. Under the Indian Companies Act a limited company has a distinct entity of its own.

The stakes today are high as the land values in the Ambattur area has soared several times than what VGN Enterprises had paid in 2004. The buyer is now planning to develop the land into an integrated township. VGN Enterprises has hired actress Mandira Bedi as the company's brand ambassador.

According to D Pratish, director, VGN Enterprises, the integrated township project will not be delayed because of the dispute raised by Dunlop India.