Dunlop India in property deal controversy

Chennai, Aug 2 (UNI) VGN Enterprises, a 65-year-old real estate development company, today accused the Ambattur-based Dunlop India of making a false claim about the ownership of a property sold to it in 2004.

Reacting to Dunlop management's charge that ''miscreants'' had trespassed into the factory property, VGN Managing Director V N Devadoss told newspersons here that Dunlop India had sold 60.86 acres of land adjacent to the factory to VGN Enterprise in 2004 and it had no right to stop VGN from developing the property.

He said it was totally illegal on the part of Dunlop India to prevent VGN from developing the property as the latter had all the relevant legal documents, including sale deed and no objection certificate from Dunlop Employees Union.

Mr Devadoss said that after Dunlop India was declared a sick unit in 1998, the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) developed a scheme to sell the surplus assets. Accordingly, 60.86 acres of land was sold to VGN Enterprises for a sum of Rs 24.34 crore. After the sale deed was completed, the revenue department of the Tamil Nadu Government measured and marked the boundaries and the VGN took possession of the property.

When the company started clearing the debris and bushes in the property for building an integrated township, the new management of Dunlop India prevented the workers from carrying out the work and lodged a police complaint, he said.

The police, however, after verifying the records, declined to interfere in the matter, saying that it was a civil matter, he said.

Mr Devadoss recalled that when the employees union challenged the sale of surplus land, the Dunlop management, in its counter affidavit filed before Madras High Court, had admitted that the physical possession had been handed over to Mr Devadoss of VGN.

He replied in the negative when asked whether the company would file a defamation case against Dunlop India for tarnishing its image. ''We don't want to waste our time. We have taken control of the property and we will go ahead with our project,'' he said.

UNI