Only Court ruling to decide fate of HPL: WB Govt.

Kolkata, Apr 19: The West Bengal government has ruled out any out-of-court settlement with the Chatterjee group in connection with HPL.

"Whatever happens, all will be settled before the court of law," state Commerce and Industry secretary Sabyasachi Sen said after the meeting late last evening.

The expansion of Haldia Petrochemicals Limited has been delayed due to infighting and it could cost the company Rs 1,000 crore, a Chatterjee Group sources said.

The Chatterjee Group holds 59 per cent stake in the company against the government's 36.88 per cent share.

Mr Purnendu Chatterjee has reportedly demanded an independent study to assess the impact of the delay in the braad meeting.

Chatterjee had been fighting the government in Calcutta High Court over a ruling by the Company Law Board.

The project, which was conceived much before Chatterjee fell out with the government, was designed to ramp up HPL's capacity to manufacturing 6.7 lakh tonne ethylene a year from 5.2 lakh tonne by December 2006.

However, after the meeting, HPL chairman Tarun Das told mediapersons the project would not be completed before 2007-08.

UNI