CALCUTTA, July 7: The courtroom battle over Titaghur Plc's Titaghur Mill No II continued on Monday as two rival parties claimed licensee rights and offered cash on the table to run the mill.

Loomtex Engineering and Prashadanta Traders, which claimed last week to have signed pacts with RJ Brealey, Titaghur's Scotland-based owner, said they were willing to pay a fortnight's wage bill of Rs 40 lakh as well as a security deposit.

Justice Shyamal K Sen of the Calcutta high court ordered SL Surana's Loomtex and YP Tah's Prashadanta to file by July 10 affidavits noting the amount they are willing to deposit.

The case will come for hearing on July 14. Till then, the July 3 injunction issued by Justice Sen has been stayed.

Lawyers for Loomtex initially offered to pay Rs 50 lakh on Monday itself to the workers. The monthly salary bill of the employees is Rs 70 lakh. As wages are paid fortnightly, each payout comes to around Rs 40 lakh.

Loomtex argued against Justice Sen's order that it keep a fixed deposit of Rs 5 crore before taking control of the mill. Finally, Loomtex agreed to deposit Rs 50 lakh and pay Rs 40 lakh as wages on July 8.

Tah's lawyer, Bimal Chatterjee, promptly made a similar offer and agreed to pay on July 14. But after instructions from his client, Chatterjee said that he, too, is willing to make the deposit on July 8.

Titaghur Mill No II has 15 recognised unions. Tah claims to have an agreement with 14 of them. Loomtex also claims to have a similar agreement.Like the previous hearing, on Monday too more than 1,000 workers thronged the high court premises. Lawyers for Loomtex as well as Tah claimed that the workers are in their support.

In 1990, the Calcutta high court had ordered the winding up of Titaghur Plc, but the order was later stayed in 1991. This year, Scotland's session court had ordered the winding up of the company. This order was also stayed.

On Monday, Justice Sen again criticised Brealey, this time for licensing a unit which faces winding-up orders. Last Wednesday, when the present case came up, Justice Sen had castigated Brealey for contempt of court. "During the process of winding, you have licensed out the mill time and again. How much money have you made through these agreements? This can be used as for clearing off the dues of the creditors," justice Sen commented on Monday about Brealey, who was not present. Justice Sen also said that an inquiry can be started by the Central Bureau of Investigation against the directors of Titaghur Plc who are residing in the country. However, he did not pass any order on this. Vimal Goel of Allworth Sales Promotion Pvt Ltd had been running the mill till March 1, 1997, when it was closed down over payment disputes.The mill, with a capacity of 100 tonnes per day, employs around 4,500 workers.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.