Harrisons land transfer move gets a setback

Pathanamthitta:  The move by Harrisons Malayalam Ltd to transfer all the land in its possession to a new company has faced a setback.

The application made by the company before National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) seeking approval for the transfer has been rejected by the Kochi Bench of the Tribunal

The move made was to transfer all the land,  measuring over one lakh acres, in possession of the company to a newly formed entity Malayalam Plantations.  Together with this,  documents were also prepared for transfer of other assets and lands situated outside the state to two other companies,  Enchanting Plantations Ltd and Harmony Plantations Ltd.  The application submitted for these transfers before the NCLT Kochi Bench was rejected.

Harrisons explalin that the applications were rejected only for technical reasons and thre is no bar for filing a new application.   Harrisons  have sent letters to the secretaries of Mumbai Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange asking this should be mentioned in the documents.

Harrisons had been trying to transfer its property to  other entities since 2012 and the attempts got entangled in legal hurdles.

The petition filed in Kerala Hich Court in 2012 was referred to NCLT's Chennai Bench who in turn referred it to the Kochi Bench.  These facts have been pointed out in Harrisons' letter to Stock Exchange secretaries.

The case of Kerala state in the dispute is that Harrisons have been keeping unauthorised possession of the land.   Once Harrisons succeeds in transferring the land to other companies,  the state's case will become irrelevant.