At Thursday's hearing the union's advocate Rabindra Hazari submitted that the amalgamation proceedings could not continue because HMRL had not filed the latest audited books of accounts in the court. "This is in violation of proviso to section 391 of the Companies Act," he said.

Hazari also told the court that in the past it has been the standard practice of both the companies to release the audited results by June. Roussel India had submitted its audited accounts for 1997-98 before the court only when the union alleged that the Rs 2.5 crore profit before tax shown by the company was incorrect.

The union in one of its affidavits alleged that Roussel India had artificially boosted the sales and profit figures and that the company should post a negative cashflow of around Rs 9.2 crore.

On August 5, the union filed anaffidavit supporting the affidavit filed by the Registrar of Companies (RoC) on July 20. The RoC said that the amalgamation of the companies would not be in public interest.

The RoC and the union have been urging for investigation of alleged excess remittances made by HMRL to Roussel Laboratories of the UK by over-valuing the Roussel share.

The union has alleged that the company suppressed the facts before the Reserve Bank of India. Roussel India has also been accused of not following a consistent accounting policy.