A Nashik Court has ordered the MIDC Sinnar Police Station to lodge a first information report (FIR) against a Resolution Professional (RP) of a sick company where a gas leakage followed by a major fire was reported on December 29, 2023.
Joint Judicial Magistrate First Class (Jt. JMFC) K.S. Khandre of Sinnar Court said in his order of October 19 that the Hindustan National Gas & Industries Limited (HNGIL)’s RP, Girish Siriram Juneja was answerable not only to the company and the court, but also the public at large, plus ensuring the daily safety of the workers at the plant.
“While in charge, they committed dishonest misconduct, negligence, illegal and destruction of the company’s property and committed an act criminal in nature,” said Jt. JMFC Khandre, on the issue in which fortunately there were no human casualties of any kind.
Referring to a complaint by a senior employee of HNGIL, Manoj C. Wadhavane, the court also detailed the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board report of the Safety & Health Officer that showed a violation of the provisions of Maharashtra Factories Act and Maharashtra Factories Rules, etc.
The court ruled that the alleged offences committed by Juneja were of a cognizable nature and hence the incident merited a detailed police investigation while ordering an FIR against the accused.
Earlier, the employees and three judges of the Supreme Court had opined that the actions of Juneja were intended to favour a company AGI Greenpac that is in the process of acquiring the debt-hit HNGIL.
In a plea with the Kolkata National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), the employees had expressed apprehensions that owing to lack of repairs and maintenance a giant furnace in the company could collapse, the fire-fighting equipment was in a scrap condition though a sum of Rs 300 crore was lying in the HNGIL’s accounts.
The workers also contended that the lack of maintenance and repairs to equipment in HNGIL could benefit the acquirer AGI Greenpac, amid apprehensions that the latter was reportedly more interested in getting the land and probably shut down the plant later as indicated by the AGI Greenpac in its submissions on April 28, 2023.
The HNGIL, headquartered in Kolkata, is one of India’s oldest and largest container glass manufacturers in India with branches in several states, while the AGI Greenpac, of Haryana, was a formidable competitor with over 20 per cent of the market share and may have benefited after the gas leakage-cum-blaze at the HNGIL plant 10 months ago.
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