The move was confirmed by the company's media consultant, but it refused to divulge any details.

On August 12, the industrial tribunal had rejected the company's proposal for a nine-month lay-off for the 10,000-odd workers at Hindmotor in Uttarpara, its oldest car manufacturing unit.

The unit manufactures its flagship Ambassador and the utility vehicle Trekker which is facing severe competition and low demand. While newer entrants like Maruti, Hyundai, Daewoo and Fiat have cornered Ambassador's market share, the Trekker trails competitors like Mahindra & Mahindra, Telco and Bajaj in the utility segment with a market share close to 3.5 per cent.

As demand for the Ambassador declined, the ailing outfit of CK Birla dropped its manufacturing level from 20,010 cars in 1998-99 from21,384 in 1997-98. It posted a net loss of Rs 28.25 crore for the year to March 31, 1999, against a net profit of Rs 39.35 crore in the previous year.

Last year, the company had sought an 18-month partial lay-off, which was rejected by the West Bengal government in January this year. HM had said the layoff will help it save up to Rs 24 crore a year.

HM challenged the state's decision before the Calcutta high court, and a single judge ruled in the company's favour by directing the government to consider the proposal afresh.

The state took the case to a division bench of Justices VK Gupta and PK Sen in July this year. The division bench upheld the state's appeal, and directed that the case should be settled by the industrial tribunal.

HM then moved the Supreme Court, but withdrew its petition after the court noted that there were no infirmites in the division bench's order.