Procedural delays mar Punwire liquidation

CHANDIGARH: Long procedural delays have come to mar the liquidation proceedings of Punwire. The company has been under liquidation since the last three years but the process is nowhere near completion.
As per the official liquidator, under a best case scenario it will take a minimum of one year before the claims of the erstwhile employees of the company can be settled.
Official liquidator B K L Srivastava says that the delay has largely been on account of secured creditors of the company. "Secured creditors have emerged as the biggest hurdles in the whole process," says Srivastava.
It is necessary for the liquidator to obtain approval of the secured creditors at every stage of the liquidation process. Srivastava says that the creditors have been taking their own time in according their approval. He says that the creditors have also been found lacking in putting up the required finances at various stages of the liquidation process.
"This has made things difficult for us, while conducting the liquidation process," he says. The liquidator has completed the valuation of assets of the company and will soon file a sale application in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, to begin the process of selling the assets.
The company''s assets have been valued at over Rs 57 crore. It''s stock in hand has been valued at Rs 25 crore, land and building at Rs 10.50 crore, machinery at Rs 20 crore and furniture and fixture at Rs 1.50 crores. The valuation was undertaken by a team from the Indian Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad and a private party.
Srivastava says that it will take at least three months for obtaining the sales permission. Thereafter the liquidator will issue advertisements inviting bids for selling the assets. The bidding process is expected to take a month''s time. The highest bids will then be required to be confirmed in the court.
In the next stage the liquidator will invite claims from various parties against the company. The claims will be then be settled after obtaining approval from the court. The statement of affairs of Punwire shows an employee list of 749 persons.