Team Herald
PANJIM: Meta Strips Ltd, a company which was the target of the most virulent people’s struggles, led by the late Matanhy Saldanha, may be given a massive financial favour by the BJP government through the back door.
The GIDC, in its 344th Board meeting had on its agenda the transfer of its 2.41 lakh square metre plot to a logistic and infrastructure company, Varama Sir India. While the application for transfer was rejected because GIDC Chairman Ganesh Gaonkar felt that it might attract controversy, the deal isn’t off. It has merely been “moved” for the government to take a final call without taking back the land from Meta Strips, the land which is not in use for over a decade.
If the government decides to affect the transfer, Meta Strips Ltd, now called Meta Copper and Alloys Ltd, (MACL) would, insiders point out, get close to Rs 80 crore for this transfer, which prima facie violates the clauses of the lease deed between GIDC and Meta Strips Ltd executed on Dec 24, 1998, pursuant to its allotment order dated 28/1/1998. Meta Strips had paid a mere Rs 1.47 crore for this land.
According to one key GIDC insider who was present at the meeting, the Board was prepared to seal the deal for Meta Strips and approve the transfer were it not for some strong questions raised about the efficacy of the move and whether the basic spirit of the GIDC transfer policy was getting violated or not. While any decision of the Board needs approval of the government and that final decision is awaited. GIDC was well within its rights to repossess the land which it has not done even after Meta Strips has sought to exit it
The GIDC in its agenda note made out a detailed case for the transfer of this plot, against the lease agreement between Meta Strips and GIDC and using a convenient loophole in the Goa-IDC Transfer and Sub Lease rules. Clause 7(ii) b states clearly that all transfer of plots has to take place within the same category in this order – industrial undertaking, institutions, service industry, utilities and commercial activity. The Meta Strips project was an industrial one for the manufacture of copper and copper alloys. Varama Sir India is a logistics and warehousing company and is therefore not in the same category.
The GIDC, instead of using the provision of Clause 7 (ii)b and taking the plot back from Meta Strips, for abject under utilisation, decided to use Clause 7 (iii) which states “Any case which does not fall under the category of prohibited or permissible transfers as per these regulations shall be placed before the board and the decision of the board with the approval of the government shall be final and binding.”
This clause, meant to be used in extraordinary circumstances, is often used for transfers where a company which has not utilised or underutilised plots is allowed to benefit financially by transferring the plot to another, in an otherwise unauthorised manner. This is what has been initiated in the case of MACL
The proposed transfer also goes against clauses in the lease agreement signed between the Managing Director Meta Strips, Mr Sushil Khaitan and Pratap Singh Meena GM GIDC.
a) Clause: The very first clause states that the lease is for 30 years, from 28.1.1998 and can be extended to 90 years only if the industrial unit “is set up completely in all aspects of the said land and the said industrial unit functions to the reasonable satisfaction of the lessor”.
Reality: Even if we agree that the unit started functioning from 28.1.1998 and is functioning till now, it would have functioned for a mere 17 years. The land used for the unit, according to one GIDC director is a mere 17% and therefore NOT “set up completely in all aspects of the said land”.
b) Clause 6(q) states that the lessee will use the demised premises only for the purpose of a factory.
Reality: In reality the factory was run for about four to five years after which it has been closed. Moreover the land was sought to be transferred for a warehouse, which is not for the purpose of a factory.
While, the GIDC can indeed claim that the application has been cancelled, it has not done the obvious – take back the land. On the other hand the agenda note of the 334th meeting it made out a detailed case for the transfer of this land to a warehousing company. The GIDC suddenly felt that shipping and barge units in Goa needed quality warehousing. Steel industries coming up in and around the State as well as the Zuari industries too were in need of additional warehousing space. Thirdly, the agenda stated that since India imports a lot of fertilizers, MPT can get additional business if this warehouse came up and lastly it said that sugarcane exporters in Maharashtra in the Kholapur belt could use the MPT to export if they had warehousing facilities in Goa.
Goa hopes that the government of Goa who will either approve the GIDC’s rejection of the transfer of the Meta Strips plot or overturn and approve it, will first ask why the GIDC did not propose to take the Meta Strips plot back and then give it to the logistics company, with the state standing to benefit.
