PUNE, Dec 25: The Calcutta high court has ordered the winding up of the debt-ridden Gadgil Western group company, Western India Industries Ltd (WII), even as another company, Western Paques Ltd (WPL), is currently facing investigations by a court-appointed liquidator.

The Calcutta high court order was passed on November 26, following the proceedings initiated by State Industries and Investment Corporation of Maharashtra (SICOM) although others, including Standard Chartered and a few other banks, also joined in.

SICOM had extended a Rs 1-crore short-term loan to WII on which no interest was paid nor was the amount repaid. It filed an appeal for liquidation in the high court around April-May 1997.Western India Industries, which had its head office in Delhi and a registered office in Calcutta, was engaged in the setting up of engineering projects on a turnkey basis.

It went public, raising over Rs 200 crore in 1993 for the purpose of setting up LPG bottling plants. However, it got no permission or contracts for these plants which it was to have set up on a build own operate transfer (BOOT) principle.

With no official spokesperson available from the group, well-informed sources said that the liabilities of both WII and WPL amounted to about Rs 350 crore. The lion's share of Rs 250 crore would be the liability of WPL, while Rs 100 crore in WII. The sources accepted that the assets of both companies were negligible. Of the original Gadgil Western group, only two companies are still working, although both are reporting heavy losses and also carry a heavy debt burden. The two companies are the Goa-based Western India Shipyard Ltd and the Orissa-based Western India Sugars.