Team Herald
VASCO: Various movable and immovable properties of the Western India Shipyard Limited (WISL) are going to be auctioned on Wednesday by the company.
The auction has been ordered by the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Mumbai, after the WISL went bankrupt. However, the workers of WISL are left high and dry in the scheme of things.
In the past, the WISL undertook repairs of ships at the Mormugao port. The company still has a large floating dock at the Mormugao port. The WISL had taken some of the berths at MPT on lease for 25 years. However, recently the company has turned into a sick unit and ultimately gone bankrupt; it has outstanding payment to Mormugao Port Trust and its workers combined to the tune of crores of rupees.
The company has not paid pension and other settlements to its workers for or several months. The workers have even resorted to holding protests against the company, but since the WISL is bankrupt the company hasn’t been able to fulfill the demands of the workers.
The MPT had filed a petition at the NCLT for the outstanding dues. After hearing the case, the Tribunal ruled that the petitioner MPT may auction the passenger ship of Sahara and the dry dock at to recover its dues. The NCLT has also ruled for auctioning the properties of WISL.
The MPT has managed to recover some of the outstanding dues from WISL. But the fate of the payments of workers of Western India Shipyard Limited still hangs in balance.
